The Glass House Mountains as ancient landforms illustrate the evolution of the landscape and the geological history of volcanic activity in the area. Because of their size and distinctive form they are readily identifiable from a number of distant observation points from both land and sea and so have played an important role in navigation in connection with the European exploration of the east coast of Australia. Captain Cook sighted and named them in 1770. In 1799 Matthew Flinders also reported on the Glass House peaks and camped in the area. Other early explorers connected with them are John Oxley, Alan Cunningham, Andrew Petrie and Ludwig Leichhardt.