GRASSLANDS
The story of Australia's vibrant and resilient native grasslands
and the future of food, farming, culture and climate
ABOUT
Aboriginal people have continually cared for Country for over 60,000 years, and the makers of this film recognise and pay respect to Aboriginal people and their connection and care for Country in the past, present and future.
Presented by First Nations people on Country, Grasslands tells the stories that kept us close to the land, that told us about a spiritual and physical negotiation between the wild world and the domesticated grasses that fed and maintained us.
Structured as a visual journey across Australia in the style of a detective story, the film blends traditional documentary with conceptual animation sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board of how native grasslands could reimagine Australia for future generations. The story highlights how Australia's native grasslands hold the key to the future of Indigenous land management, agriculture, food production, bushfire prevention, water security, biodiversity and healthy Country.
humans survive by eating grass
Over 50% of the calories humans consume worldwide come from grassland plants (rice, wheat, maize, oats, barley)
grasslands and humans have co-evolved
“Indigenous people converted the land to grasslands for the ‘maintenance’ of animals, plants and fresh drinking water”
Bill Gammage, The Biggest Estate on Earth
the world’s most threatened ecosystem
Grasslands are the world's most threatened ecosystem and the ecosystem facing the fastest rate of destruction.
Threats to natural grasslands, as well as the wildlife that live on them, include farming, overgrazing, invasive species, illegal hunting, and climate change.
the fastest-ever destruction of an ecosystem
The Victorian Volcanic Plains were rapidly destroyed by grazing sheep, resulting in what is thought to be the fastest destruction of an ecosystem in recorded history.
Australia's early prosperity was built on the sheep industry, which caused the destruction of the western plains grasslands, and Australia remains the biggest exporter of wool in the world.
the best way to sequester carbon quickly
“An effective, profitable, and culturally relevant method for increasing soil organic carbon is to restore grasslands worldwide to their optimal health”
Alan Savory, Restoring the Climate