Wetlands in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment, in particular the coastal wetlands, perform a dual role of providing intrinsic supporting services maintaining the reef World Heritage Area and catchment ecosystems whilst also providing habitats for biodiversity in their own right. To successfully manage and protect these systems it is important to have the fullest understanding of the long-term drivers of wetland by examining responses to major changes in environment such as hydroclimate or sea level change. In the Wet Tropics there are few, if any, long term reconstructions of coastal wetlands that can address this. Here we report on the results from a more than 7,000 year sediment core from Mungalla Station, on the lands of the Nywaigi people, near Ingham. Using pollen, charcoal and geochemical tools we demonstrate the strong influence of changing sea levels and the ENSO system during the Holocene on the state of the area and how this information may be useful for the future management of these wetland systems.