Background and Aims Analysis of fossil phytolith assemblages from palaeoecological and archaeological sites relies on the development of robust modern reference material from soils. This study investigates the utility of soil phytolith assemblages for characterising vegetation and environmental conditions across northern Australia and develops new validated phytolith indices for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Methods Phyt...

The Holocene history of Australia's climate is surprisingly poorly understood. This is, in part, because of the relatively weak forcing of Holocene climate versus that of the late Pleistocene. However, it is commonly suggested that eastern Australia dried during the mid‐ to late‐Holocene and that this was in response to increased activity in the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), in particular, the intensification of the El...

This research documents the paleoenvironmental evolution of Eighteen Mile Swamp on North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah), Australia, from oscillating coastal lagoon into stable freshwater swamp over the last ca. 1600 years. We analyzed multiple sediment cores via physical description, acid sulfate soil assays, particle size analysis, diatom and pollen assemblages, photosynthetic pigment content, and Itrax XRF spectrometry, alo...

The iconic sand dune systems of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), in southeastern Queensland, Australia, host numerous lakes and swamps containing organic‐rich sediment deposits that record changes in climate, fire and surrounding vegetation. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from individual locations can provide insights into changes in the environment, but determining the regional extent of these changes is seldom pos...

Tasmania's montane temperate rainforests contain some of Australia's most ancient and endemic flora. Recent landscape‐scale fires have impacted a significant portion of these rainforest ecosystems. The complex and rugged topography of Tasmania results in a highly variable influence of fire across the landscape, rendering predictions of ecosystem response to fire difficult. We assess the role of topographic variation in bufferi...