On the Australian mainland these are the south-eastern section of the country's Great Dividing Range while there are also significant elements of montane grassland in Tasmania.

These mountain areas are notable in Australia, which is mostly flat and dry, and the Alps receive almost a quarter of the country's rainfall and are the water source for almost half of the population.

On the mainland, the Australian Alps montane grasslands are surrounded at lower elevations by the Southeast Australia temperate forests ecoregion.

The tree line is between 1600 and 1800 m and above that the alpine flora consists predominantly of species of Poa (snow grass), usually associated with closed and open shrublands of orites, Grevillea, Prostanthera, and Hovea.

The occurrence of grasslands represents an ecological climax condition, the culmination of a cycle of colonisation of bare ground by woody shrubs which provide protection for seedlings of grass species.