Apart from the Tangalooma Resort, almost all of the locality is within the Moreton Island National Park.

The bay was named by Lieutenant James Cook of HMS Endeavour in 1770 after James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton, who was President of the Royal Society and was influential in obtaining the grant that enables Cook's voyage.

The misspelling of the name Morton as Moreton occurred in the published records of the voyage.

[2] With increasing amounts of shipping coming into Moreton Bay during the 1840s, the New South Wales Government decided to build a lighthouse on the north-east corner of the island (Cape Moreton).

[43] Cape Moreton Provisional School opened on 28 August 1876 but closed in 1884.