Cape Moreton is a rocky headland at the north eastern tip of

Moreton Island Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. ...

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

, Australia. The surrounding area is part of the Moreton Island National Park. Flinders Reef is north-west of Cape Moreton. The outcrop is mostly composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, but also some conglomerate, siltstone and shale. 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.

History

On the 17 May 1770,

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

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. Until 1952 when it was abandoned, a telegraph line reached the point, via Amity on

North Stradbroke Island North Stradbroke Island (Janday language, Jandai: ''Minjerribah''), colloquially ''Straddie'' or ''North Straddie'', is an island that lies within Moreton Bay in the Australian state of Queensland, southeast of the centre of Brisbane. Original ...

. On 24 February 1894, the

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

sank about two nautical miles from the cape after striking Smith's Rocks. The

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...

Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

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. The '' MV Pacific Adventurer'' lost containers in high seas created by Cyclone Hamish and caused the 2009 southeast Queensland oil spill. The containers were located after a 10-day search, about off the coast of Cape Moreton.

Lighthouse

Cape Moreton Light was the first

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

established in Queensland. The tall structure was constructed of locally quarried

, and was built in 1857. 35 "good conduct" prisoners were used for labour. A

pilot station A pilot station is an onshore headquarters for maritime pilots, or a place where pilots can be hired from. To get from a pilot station to an approaching ship, pilots need to use fast vessels to arrive in time, i.e. a pilot boat. History Histor ...

was established at Bulwer on the northern end of the island in 1848. At one time there was a total of seven lighthouses in operation on the island. Cape Moreton Lighthouse Complex, consisting of the lighthouse, three keepers' cottages and associated structures, was registered on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

in 1981.

References

External links

* {{1stVoyageCookAus Moreton

History

Lighthouse

See also

References

External links