'Mooloolaba' is thought to have derived either from 'mulu' the Aboriginal word for snapper fish, or 'mullu' meaning red-bellied black snake. Originally the name 'Mooloolah Heads' was given to the area from the mouth of the Mooloolah River to the site of the present Charles Clarke Park on River Esplanade. The rock groyne was built in the early 1965 to facilitate pilot boats for the port of Brisbane.

The river of tears, a Dreamtime Legend about Maroochy, Nindery and Ccoolum The first inhabitants of the Maroochy district were the Aboriginal people of the Gubbi Gubbi / Kabi Kabi language group, whose lands stretched from Burrum River in the north, to Pine River in the south, and west to the Conondale Ranges. For over 20,000 years, the Gubbi Gubbi / Kabi Kabi people hunted in the surrounding ranges, fished the rivers and gathered seafood from the ocean..

Timber on the river Up until the late 1800s, the sole transport link from Brisbane to the Maroochy area was by boat. Timbergetters such as Petrie, Pettigrew, Low and Grigor arrived on the coast by boat in search of timber resources within the region. The early explorers used the rivers and creeks to access inland areas. They found a wealth of timber, including red cedar, beech and pine. From the 1870s, the Maroochy River was used to transport timber harvested from the inland areas and the Blackall Range. William Pettigrew used Maroochydore as a timber landing place from 1884, twenty years after he first established a depot with James Low and William Grigor, at Mooloolah Heads.

As you make your way up to the headland itself, you find yourself looking up to a spectacular lookout that is shaped like the bow of a navy ship. This is the HMAS Brisbane Lookout, which is one of the best ways to take in the spectacular views over the coastline and to look for whales and dolphins out to sea.