Australia's "most important bird" – and one whose conservation some scientists consider the most urgent of any bird in the world – has just taken a significant step back from the brink of extinction.

The critically endangered plains-wanderer once roamed the grasslands surrounding Melbourne.

So it is fitting that on these volcanic plains, for the first time in Victoria, the bird has been bred in captivity.

It can be revealed that on November 4 four healthy plains-wanderer chicks hatched at the Werribee Open Range Zoo. Their names: Quagmire, Jane, Ramble and Clinton.