On the coastal plains of Northern Australia, there has been considerable environmental change over the mid to late Holocene. On the north coast, freshwater from the annual monsoon ponded against chenier beach ridges, and freshwater wetlands with their exceedingly rich floral and faunal resources became widely established on the floodplains from 2000 BP. Numerous archaeological sites attest to their exploitation by Aboriginal people. In Cape York, the establishment of earth mound sites adjacent to small freshwater wetlands appears to be linked with changing environmental conditions and a regional increase in the availability of permanent water sources around 2000 years BP. These results have implications for theories of intensification in late Holocene Australia.