The outcrop is mostly composed of sandstone, but also some conglomerate, siltstone and shale.[1] The sand dunes of Moreton Island were formed by sand caught on and built up behind these rocks, in a process that began at least 500,000 years ago.[2]
On the 17 May 1770, James Cook sighted and named the point Cape Morton. By 1959 the island's second settlement begin at Cape Moreton. At one point a school was operating at Cape Moreton with a total of 15 children.[1] Until 1952 when it was abandoned, a telegraph line reached the point, via Amity on North Stradbroke Island.[1]
On 24 February 1894, the Aarhus sank about two nautical miles from the cape after striking Smith's Rocks. The hospital shipCentaur was sunk close to Cape Moreton in 1943 when a Japanese submarine torpedoed the ship, taking the lives of 268 people. The wreck was found on the 20 December 2009 in a steep walled gulley, 2,059 m below the ocean surface.
A pilot station was established at Bulwer on the northern end of the island in 1848.[1] At one time there was a total of seven lighthouses in operation on the island.[1]
Cape Moreton Lighthouse Complex, consisting of the lighthouse, three keepers' cottages and associated structures, was registered on the Register of the National Estate in 1981.[5]