The Great Emu War | Dynamic History Module | Grades 9-12

Turn one of the strangest wildlife-control episodes in modern history into a rigorous two-day evidence investigation. In this Dynamic History module for grades 9-12, students follow economically vulnerable Wheatbelt farmers, native emu movement, crop and fence damage, government pressure, military intervention with Lewis guns, newspaper framing, and the longer-term policy response.

Students do more than repeat the meme that Australia "lost a war to birds." They use maps, photographs, contemporary newspaper evidence, government-policy context, and cause-and-effect reasoning to distinguish the documented 1932 cull from the dramatic "war" language that made the episode famous.

What students investigate

• Why Wheatbelt farmers were already vulnerable before emu damage intensified their problems
• How native emu movement overlapped with wheat fields, farm water, and fences
• Why farmers and officials saw Lewis guns as a plausible response to a large wildlife-control problem
• Why fast, dispersing birds and open rough terrain made the military plan difficult to execute efficiently
• How contemporary newspapers used "war," "offensive," and other battle language to frame a local cull as a national story
• Why kill counts alone cannot establish whether a policy produced lasting protection for farms
• How later military requests, refusals, bounties, and barrier fencing complicate the simple idea of "winning" or "losing"

What's included

• Two-day guided Dynamic History investigation with six historical stops
• Teacher Guide and Answer Key with suggested Day 1 and Day 2 pacing
• Standard Offline Print Module for classrooms without reliable internet or student devices
• Accessible Offline Print Module with the same core history, evidence, and questions at reduced reading complexity
• Editable digital student worksheet and print student worksheet
• Self-graded Google Forms quiz and multiple-choice print quiz
• Assessment bank with 5 vocabulary terms, 4 two-part short-answer questions, 2 two-part challenge questions, and 15 multiple-choice questions

Flexible classroom use

• Teach the core investigation across two 45-50 minute class periods
• Use the interactive Dynamic History experience when students have devices
• Switch to the Standard or Accessible Offline Print Module when internet or device access is limited
• Use selected written questions for homework, review, or a short check for understanding
• Use the complete assessment as a separate assessment period when desired

Skills addressed

• Using maps, photographs, and contemporary newspaper evidence to support claims
• Distinguishing what a source says from what it proves literally
• Tracing multi-step historical cause and effect
• Analyzing human-wildlife conflict and the interaction between environmental movement and agricultural land use
• Evaluating whether a government response solved the larger policy problem rather than merely producing an immediate result
• Analyzing media framing and the difference between a memorable label and the documented event

Standards alignment

CCSS History/Social Studies literacy connections documented in the Teacher Guide include RH.9-10.1, RH.9-10.2, RH.9-10.7, RH.9-10.9 and the corresponding RH.11-12 standards. Writing extensions may support WHST.9-10.1, WHST.9-10.9, WHST.11-12.1, and WHST.11-12.9.

Offline access included

The Standard and Accessible Offline Print Modules preserve the core readings, maps, evidence, questions, and historical reasoning so the lesson can still be taught when the interactive module is unavailable.