Just after the roaring cannons of the Great War faded into memory, the wide red soils of Western Australia began to stir with hope. Veterans returned from distant lands, their hands calloused and hearts wearied, seeking peace among the sunlight and soil. The government, in its wisdom and gratitude, offered them land. Rich, open land. Stretched beneath skies so blue they seemed to hum a lullaby.

These men, weathered by battle, put down rifles and picked up ploughs. They sowed wheat in long, golden rows. They built homesteads where the winds whispered through screen doors and children laughed among the gum trees. The land was tough and dry, but there was pride in every furrow turned. Seasons slipped by like quiet songs. Rain came sometimes, and sometimes it did not.

But over the horizon, curious eyes watched. Tall figures moved among the grasses. First a few, then dozens. Then hundreds. With their long legs and soft grey down, the emus came. As if stirred from some ancient dream, they drifted across the flats in slow procession. Their dark eyes glistened like ink under the afternoon sun. Though they could not fly, their stride was swift and sure. They whispered to one another in low murmurs, a language only the wind could truly understand.

To the farmers, they were a puzzle. Strange visitors with feathers that shimmered like shadows and beaks that pecked without invitation. The emus had found a land laid with bounty… and they helped themselves. Wheat fields bowed beneath their trampling feet. Fences meant little. The boundaries of men were not the boundaries of birds.

So it was, in that faraway corner of the world, the stillness of post-war peace trembled at the tread of thousands of emus. And late at night, under the stars that blinked silently above, the farmers wondered what to do. They had known battlefields, but this... this was something new.

And as the moon cast silver onto the fields, the emus moved like mist. Silent, graceful, and endless. Part ghost, part guest. But not quite friend.

Sleep Tight Historian is your nightly passport to the softer side of the past.

Every evening, join us for whisper-quiet storytelling, where little-known, quirky moments in history come alive in soothing, slow-paced narrative. From Napoleon’s legendary “Bunny Battle” to London’s great beer flood, each episode weaves vivid imagery, gentle voice cues, and dreamy soundscapes. Designed to help you learn something new as you drift off.

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If you love discovering the odd, the unexpected, and the delightfully strange in history while easing into restful sleep then you’re home.

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