This study investigated subsurface water-use strategies and physiological responses of subtropical remnant eucalypt woodlands in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. A land surface temperature (LST) model-data approach was used to detect daily use of subsurface water (i.e. soil moisture obtained from depths >30 cm and aquifer groundwater) by woody vegetation to a confidence level of 95%. Vegetation subsurface water use was quantified over a 13-year period (2000–2012) coinciding with a series of wet and dry climatic periods. Land surface temperature and subsurface water use time-series data were compared to local meteorological (vapour pressure deficit, rainfall, and soil water availability) and vegetation (leaf area index, stomatal resistance and latent heat loss) data to determine vegetation strategies to declining shallow (