Australia's much maligned native grasses have come in for a make-over in recent years. And as Graeme O'Neill reports, they needn't weep anymore.

Native grass expert Ian Chivers was harvesting kangaroo grass in a droughted paddock in Craigieburn, in Melbourne's semi-rural north in 1988 - the year of Australia's bicentennial - when a patch of verdant green among nearby rocks caught his eye.

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Ian talks with the hosts of Triple R about the benefits of using native grasses as opposed to introduced grasses...

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Revegetation of mines, roadsides, riverbanks and other degraded sites using native grasses is reliant upon a combination of good planting or sowing material, appropriate environmental condition and the most up-to-date science to guide the restoration efforts...

As pastures and lawns wither in the grip of the extended drought, native grasses, maligned by pastoralists since colonial times, are showing their remarkable pedigree and potential for Australian conditions.Researcher and businessman Ian Chivers is championing their strong credentials for both suburban and rural applications.

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Back in 1895, botanist Frederick Turner identified more than a dozen native grass species which could be successfully grown here as cereal crops...

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Windmill grass is a hardy and well-adapted native grass. It is a C4 weak perennial grass growing actively over summer and generally dormant over winter. This means it can produce feed for grazing stock and should not compete with winter growing crops. However, in the drier and warmer regions of NSW dedicated crop farmers without livestock are finding this grass is behaving differently...

Mitchell grass is a native perennial pasture that dominates 328,000 square kilometres of inland Queensland. It is also a significant pasture on the Barkly Tableland, NT, north-eastern South Australia, and in northern New South Wales. It is significant for the pastoral livestock industries as it provides a nutritious, bulk feed year-round.

After a relatively brief courtship with exotic grasses, there is a renewed interest in establishing Australian native grasses for pasture,conservation, rehabilitation, amenity and even for human consumption.

There is such a wide array of grass species available for landscaping and turf why even consider Australian native grasses? They’re all just clumps anyway! I'’m busy –- it’s all too hard!.