Climate change is predicted to lead to warmer temperatures and more intense storms within the century in Central and Northern Australia. The ensuing impacts of climate change are anticipated to present immense challenges for remote communities, in terms of maintaining housing comfort, family health and wellbeing, effective education and employment, and the viability of community services and businesses. About 80 percent of the Australian landmass is considered ‘remote' and ‘very remote' and it is home to a highly dispersed population of about 500,000 people (with about 30 percent being Indigenous people). Much of the population in remote Australia is thought to be highly exposed and sensitive to the impacts of climate change, with a low adaptive capacity. Yet the lives of Aboriginal Australians living in remote communities are strongly influenced and governed by traditional customs, knowledge and practices, that are not always accounted for in vulnerability assessments. This presentation will draw on qualitative and modelled data relating to a small remote community and a large service town in the Northern Territory. Research results indicate that the social capital of remote Aboriginal communities is commonly undervalued, thereby misleading efforts to build the adaptive capacity of communities in the face of climate change. The authors suggest that a stronger understanding of the social capital within remote communities, particularly those still strongly framed by traditional wisdom, can enhance the investment in building the resilience of communities and community services.