Shipment of emus that swam to mainland New South Wales now thriving at Potato Point

Australia Broadcast Center

16-05-2025

Every resident in Potato Point has a story to tell about their most unusual neighbours.
The little town on the NSW south coast, population 159, is home to one of the only thriving emu colonies on the Australian east coast.
Local WIRES volunteer Rachel McInnes didn't know Potato Point, 8 kilometres east of Bodalla, had emus when she moved to the area 18 years ago.
"It's a joy to go out your back or front door and see a couple of emus walking down the street," she says.
"It's hilarious when you look down on the beach and think: 'What's that? Is that a person? No, it's an emu.'
"That's just more icing on the cake of living in such a beautiful area."
A businessman shipped in a population of about a dozen emus from Western Australia 30 years ago to live on his private island — Horse Island — at the mouth of the Tuross River.
What he didn't realise was that emus are proficient swimmers, and soon his imported pets had made a break for the mainland — 20 to 100 metres away, depending on the tide.
"I didn't know emus could swim," Ms McInnes says.
The population struggled at first. But now, with the National Parks and Wildlife Service placing fox baits throughout the national park, Potato Point and the surrounding Eurobodalla National Park have become an emu haven.
"Every year we see chicks, and lots of them," Ms McInnes says.
"It's a topic of conversation when the new chicks are hatched: 'How many have you seen?'"
This year, one local spotted a male emu with 21 chicks.
For her PhD, Western Sydney University ecological statistician Julia Ryeland researched the fluctuations in emu populations along the east coast.
"There are lots of records of emus being all throughout Sydney and along the east coast," Dr Ryeland says.
"However, there are only a few areas where they remain on the east coast, and Eurobodalla National Park is one of them."
Dr Ryeland says emu populations along the coast have declined from historical levels because of hunting, loss of habitat, and introduced predators such as foxes.
It makes the little oasis at Potato Point important for the iconic Australian species.
Dr Ryeland says emus are catalysts for bush regeneration by transporting seeds that get stuck in their claws or that pass through their digestive system.
"It looks like they are quite a key seed disperser among different landscapes," she says.
"They are one of the few species that are completely generous. They more or less eat anything, and they can transport really large amounts of seed really quite far distances.
Ms McInnes says humans and emus live together in harmony at Potato Point.
"They are protected here. We give them space and they are happy to coexist," she says.
Sometimes tourists will turn up and ask a local where to see the emus.
But Ms McInnes says they are not tame pets.
"Don't ever think you're going to get a selfie with a wild emu. They are absolutely a wild animal," she says.
"When we have visitors, they are absolutely tickled to see emus. To top it off, they might see a couple of kangaroos hopping down the main street. It's very cliché, but I love that we have them here.
"We have the coat of arms living in our village. How lucky are we?
"It's such a privilege to have them."