There is much evidence to suggest Tasmanian emus were abundant in Van Diemen’s Land.
John Latham’s 1823 publication affirms Charles Jeffrey’s observations in which he claims that mobs of emus were common and that a mob would consist of seventy or eighty birds.
The Sydney Gazette in 1803 painted an image of the Van Diemen’s Land landscape, when it reported the arrival of Lieutenant Bowen on the Lady Nelson: ‘close to the Settlement are abundance of Emues, large Kangaroos, and Swans’.
 In 1804 it was reported that David Collins’s expedition found that ‘the emue [is] plentiful’.
 In 1808 George Harris the surveyor travelled from Hobart Town to Launceston, and wrote that his party walked ‘thro the finest country in the world ... the quantities of kangaroos, emus and wild ducks we saw ... [was] incredible’.
 The Tasmanian Indigenous people’s sustainable relationship with the emu also suggests emu population numbers were significant.
Indigenous people used a substance called ‘patener’.
This ointment was made from a ground metal mixed with emu fat/oil and was used to mark their heads and bodies.
In 1831 Robinson described an Aboriginal dwelling, stating that the ground in front of this habitation was thickly strewed with the feathers of the emu, and the bones of the stately bird ... covered the ground, which the natives had broken to pieces to obtain the marrow to anoint their head and body.
There is much evidence to suggest Tasmanian emus were abundant in Van Diemen’s Land. John Latham’s 1823 publication affirms Charles Jeffrey’s observations in which he claims that mobs of emus were common and that a mob would consist of seventy or eighty birds. The Sydney Gazette in 1803 painted an image of the Van Diemen’s Land landscape, when it reported the arrival of Lieutenant Bowen on the Lady Nelson: ‘close to the Settlement are abundance of Emues, large Kangaroos, and Swans’.  In 1804 it was reported that David Collins’s expedition found that ‘the emue [is] plentiful’.  In 1808 George Harris the surveyor travelled from Hobart Town to Launceston, and wrote that his party walked ‘thro the finest country in the world ... the quantities of kangaroos, emus and wild ducks we saw ... [was] incredible’.  The Tasmanian Indigenous people’s sustainable relationship with the emu also suggests emu population numbers were significant. Indigenous people used a substance called ‘patener’. This ointment was made from a ground metal mixed with emu fat/oil and was used to mark their heads and bodies. In 1831 Robinson described an Aboriginal dwelling, stating that the ground in front of this habitation was thickly strewed with the feathers of the emu, and the bones of the stately bird ... covered the ground, which the natives had broken to pieces to obtain the marrow to anoint their head and body.
Tasmanian emu