High resolution, multiproxy records, from several lakes on the volcanic plains of western Victoria, south-eastern Australia, are providing evidence for a number of dry periods over the last 2000 years, rivalling that which has dominated the landscape over the last decade. Evidence is primarily from diatoms but, in shallow lakes where diatom preservation can be an issue and where aquatic macrophytes are important, pollen analysis is sensitively revealing variation in lake conditions. This sensitivity is increased where the presence of seeds allows identification of indicator taxa to species level. Significant dry periods are evident every few hundred years although determination of their exact frequency, duration and regional expression awaits age refinements from lead-210 and radiocarbon dating. Each dry period has a distinct palaeoecological signature that may suggest differences in intensity, climatic trigger or land use activity.