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In this article, volunteer researcher Michele Harper explores Meredith’s distinguished career, his surprising involvement in the infamous Great Emu War and his lasting connections to two Harbour Trust sites – North Head Sanctuary in Manly and Georges Heights at Headland Park, Mosman.
Rising through the ranks
Brigadier Gwynydd Purves Wynne-Aubrey Meredith had a long and illustrious career with the Australian military. Born in Swansea, Tasmania in 1887, he received his education at Launceston Grammar School before embarking on a military career that saw him serve in Europe as well as across Australia.
Meredith was appointed as a Lieutenant in the Royal Australian Artillery in 1910, serving in France. He furthered his training at the Royal Military College in Woolwich, England – prior to officer training being established at Duntroon – before returning to Australia in 1924. Upon his return, he was appointed Inspector of Armaments on the Munitions Supply Board, marking the beginning of a series of prestigious appointments.
In 1932, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, Meredith took over the command of the coastal defences in Western Australia. By 1938, he had taken command of coastal defences in New South Wales, first stationed at Georges Heights and later at North Head, where he also became the first commanding officer of the School of Artillery.
Service beyond the Australian Army
Following prestigious appointments in Melbourne and Queensland, Meredith retired from the Australian Army in 1947. However, his career did not end there. In 1950, he joined the U.S. Eighth Army in Japan as a civilian, where he was appointed to the Tokyo Arsenal as head of the Small Arms Section. He later transferred to Korea as a senior civilian adviser on ordnance. After the cessation of the Korean War, Meredith trained and advised Korean Army Officers in ordnance work. In 1957, at the age of 70, Meredith retired for the second time and returned to Sydney.
Although Brigadier Meredith has strong connections with areas of North Head and the Mosman peninsula now managed and protected by the Harbour Trust, he is best remembered for his lead role in a battle against 20,000 antagonists – The Great Emu War.
The Great Emu War
The Great Emu War was a military campaign conducted between November and December 1932 in Western Australia. During a period of drought, an unusually large migration of emus – known for traveling hundreds of kilometres in search of food and water – wreaked havoc on farmlands in Western Australia. In addition to devastating crops, the emus trampled fences and created gaps that allowed pests like rabbits to further damage the land. The Campion district suffered the most, with more than a quarter of its farmers – many of them war veterans resettled on unsuitable land through government programs – already abandoning their farms. The combined effects of the drought and the Great Depression pushed struggling farmers to seek government assistance. In response, Minister for Defence George Pearce deployed the military to aid in their fight against the emus.
In November 1932, Major Meredith and three members of the Royal Australian Artillery arrived in Campion, armed with automatic machine guns, 10,000 rounds of ammunition and accompanied by a cinematographer. Working alongside local farmers, they attempted to ambush the emus using military tactics, but their efforts quickly proved ineffective. The emus scattered at the first sign of danger, making it nearly impossible to target more than one or two at a time. Reports suggested that each group had a lookout bird that alerted the others to approaching threats. The emus also ran in a zig zagging pattern at speeds of nearly 50 kilometers per hour, rendering the machine guns useless. One soldier remarked that the birds seemed to have “military tactics of their own”. Meredith himself stated that the emus could “face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.”
Members of the Australian House of Representatives mocked the campaign, suggesting that the emus deserved medals for their resilience. After three days of combat, the operation had only managed to kill 30 emus. The birds outran the farmers' trucks, and their tough hides meant that glancing bullets rarely caused fatal injuries. Major Meredith later estimated that nearly 1,000 emus were killed between 12 November and 10 December 1932, with many more succumbing to wounds. However, the accuracy of these figures was disputed and the staggering ratio of bullets fired to emus killed ultimately led to the operation being deemed too inefficient to continue.
In the end, the emus emerged victorious, and by 1934, the government introduced bounties to encourage hunting as a means of control. Ultimately, the only truly effective defence against the birds proved to be the expansion of fencing.
Final years and legacy
Brigadier Meredith passed away in May 1975 at the age of 88 at Concord Repatriation Hospital. Throughout his career, newspapers reported that he was popular with all ranks in the forces, keen on amateur sport, especially boxing and wrestling and an expert on munitions and small arms. During his second retirement in Sydney, Brigadier Meredith maintained close relations with South Korea and was President of the Australian-Korea Society.
References
- The Advertiser, Friday 14 January 1938, page 16.
- Australian Gunner Obituary Resource. Brigadier Gwynydd Purves Wynn-Aubrey Meredith (19 April 1887-5 May 1975 (meredith_gwynydd_purves_wynn.pdf).
- The Australian Women’s Weekly, Wednesday 6 January 1965, page 13.
- The Bulletin, July 15 1959, page 14.
- The Canberra Times, Tuesday 6 May 1975, page 16.
- The Daily Guardian, Friday 3 September 1937, page 3.
- Kulik, Rebecca M. Emu War. Emu War | History, Summary, & Facts | Britannica.
- The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 12 February 1938, page 19
- Travers, Scott, The Real Story Behind Australia’s Great Emu ‘War’ Of 1932 (And Why They Lost—Twice). Forbes The Real Story Behind Australia’s Great Emu ‘War’ Of 1932 (And Why They Lost—Twice).
Article was originally published on 27 August 2025.
