Forest Lake, a 1990s residential suburb, is 16 km south-west of central Brisbane. It is immediately south of Inala, and before its formation the area was part of Doolandella.

Forest Lake began conceptually in 1991 as a Delfin housing estate, consisting of 7700 house lots and provision for 120 ha of parks, a shopping centre and school. It was estimated that by 2006 there would be a population of 22,000.

Doolandella lay on the headwaters of the Blunder Creek, and a watercourse and wetland were constructed as a lake, around which the new suburb was designed. Compared with Inala, Forest Lake was upmarket. The Anglican and Uniting Churches opened Forest Lake College in 1994, with separate P-6 and 7-12 campuses, and a small international campus. Its enrolment was around 1200 in 2003, ten years after opening. Forest Lake primary school was opened in 1994, and a high school opened in 2001. With a high proportion of young people in the suburb (median age was 28 in 2001, compared with 34 for metropolitan Brisbane); a second State primary school was needed in stage 2 of the estate, south of Grand Avenue. Named Grand Avenue, the school was opened in 1999.

Forest Lake shopping village (1997) has two discount department stores, two supermarkets and 74 shops (2008).

In the north-west of Forest Lake there is a small reserve named Homestead Park. It is the site where the Durack family had their Archerfield homestead.

In 1991 Doolandella had a census population of 336, only a few more than the figure in 1976. In 1996 the Doolandella-Forest Lake census area recorded 6468 people, and in 2001 there were 14,027, two-thirds of the projected total for 2006. The median weekly income of Forest Lake residents in 2001 was $488 per person, a stark contrast with neighbouring Inala's $237. In 2006 the census population of Forest Lake was 21,005 and in 2011 was 22,426.