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The Official Glasshouse Mountains Tourism Website.

Glasshouse Mountains Tourism Committee

About Glasshouse

The Discovery.

Glasshouse Mountains are a series of spectacular volcanic plugs rising dramatically from the coastal plain.
The first European to see the remarkable Glass House Mountains was Captain James Cook.
In his Journal on 17 May 1770 he wrote: "..however, if any future navigator should be disposed to determine the question whether there is or is not a river in this place, which the wind would not permit us to do, the situation may be always found by three hills, which lie to the northward of it, in the latitude of twenty six degrees fifty three minutes. These hills lie but a little way inland, and not far from each other: they are remarkable for the singular form of their elevation, which very much resembles a glass house, and for this reason I called them the Glass Houses: the northern most of the three is the highest and largest; there are several other peaked hills inland to the northward of these, but these are not nearly so remarkable..."

The next European to visit the area was Matthew Flinders who spent 16 days sailing around Moreton Bay in July-August, 1799. During his explorations he came ashore and climbed Mount Beerburrum from which he surveyed the whole of Moreton Bay. The excellent booklet Matthew Flinders in Moreton Bay 1799, published by the Redcliffe Historical Society, records Flinders visit to the Glasshouse Mountains:

On the following morning Flinders took the boat up a small creek that pointed towards the peaks. About half past nine he left the boat accompanied by two seamen and a native. The country they passed through was swampy, covered with mangroves, they waded through rocky swamps. In observing the flat-topped peak (Tibrogargan) it was considerably nearer than the highest Glass-house (Beerwah) that he had first meant to visit, but seeing one of the round mount (Beerburrum) with sloping sides was nearer, he altered course for it and after walking about nine miles from the boat he reached the top.

"The view of the bay and neighbouring country was very extensive, to the south there were several distinct columns of smoke visible. The mount was a pile of loose stones of many sizes, which had made the ascent difficult.