1934-11-08. Invaders From The Air. Fight Against The Locust.

The following article is a good example of media exaggeration. Emotive and frightening language is used to conjure up images of plagues of Biblical proportions which cause famine and ruin when they 'convert smiling pastures into barren wastes, strip every bit of foliage within miles, and, almost overnight, change a fertile land into a desert.' The article offers very little in the way of practical solutions or advice and serves only as a means for increasing anxiety within the community. What's more, this article appeared in The Junior Argus, a supplement intended for children!

Invaders From The Air  
FIGHT AGAINST THE LOCUST  
Parts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria are being ravaged by hordes of grasshoppers.  Farmers are fighting hard to put down this pest, which threatens to wipe out crops and leave sheep  and cattle starving. Plagues of this nature are fairly common, especially in other parts of the world where the locust, a member of the grasshopper family, has been a problem since Biblical times, and probably before.  

It is difficult to realise just what a plague of  locusts means to a country. It will convert smiling pastures into barren wastes, strip every bit of foliage within miles, and, almost overnight, change a fertile land into a desert. Famine and ruin follow in the wake of a locust horde, which might travel hundreds of miles like a huge, black cloud, shutting out the sun, until it alights and marches like an army, devouring everything for miles around.  

A flight of locusts that passed over the Red Sea one day in November, 1889, was estimated to be 2,000 square miles in extent, which means that it would form a living blanket over an area one-fortieth the size of Victoria. These migrations might extend for great distances, and swarms of  locusts have been known to invade ships 2,000  miles from land.  Man has so far not been very successful in his fight against this terrible pest, although he has done much to reduce its ravages. It is estimated that 200,000,000,000 were destroyed in Cyprus alone one year. They still breed in most countries satisfying their terrible hunger, and setting man one of his most pressing problems in his fight for existence.


Invaders From The Air. (1934, November 8). The Argus(Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), p. 1 Supplement: The Junior Argus. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10992087


For further discussion about the fear of locusts, listen to this radio interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) Bush Telegraph Program which aired on Tuesday 9 November 2010: Understanding the fear of locusts.