The Glass House Mountains were named by Lieutenant James Cook (later to become Captain James Cook) when he sailed by in 1770 as they reminded him of glass factory furnace stacks or Glasshouses back in Yorkshire, England. The range was formed as molten lava cooled to form hard rock in the cores of volcanoes between 26-27 million years ago. Millions of years of erosion have removed the surrounding exteriors of volcanic cores and softer sandstone rocks.
The Glass House Mountains are located in the traditional lands of the Jinibara and Gubbi Gubbi people and according to legend the mountains are members of a family. The story goes that Tibrogargan (the father) and Beerwah (the mother) lived in this area with their many children. One day while looking out to sea, Tibrogargan saw the ocean start to rise. As he warned his family to move to higher ground for safety, he called to his eldest son Coonowrin (Crookneck) to assist the pregnant Beerwah. Coonowrin didn't know she was pregnant and believed she was big enough to take care of herself, so he ran off to save himself. When Tibrogargan realised that Coonowrin had run off and left his mother to fend for herself he threw a club at him, breaking his neck which is still crocked (why he is also called Crookneck). The family survived the flooding and when they returned to the coastal plain, Tibrogargan refused to look at his son, Coonowrin and to this day still looks away from him towards the ocean.