Hatton Vale, a rural town on the Warrego Highway in Laidley Shire, is 20 km east of Gatton. The origin of the name is apparently unrecorded. It was adopted in 1880, replacing the name Tarampa Woolshed.
German settlers began began farming at Hatton Vale in the 1870s as the Tarampa pastoral run was resumed for closer-settlement. In the next decade they established a Lutheran church (1881) and a Catholic Apostolic church (1889). A government primary school was opened in 1881. The Apostolic church had a very effective evangelic apostle, Friederich Niemeyer, who succeeded in making Hatton Vale an important centre for his church. The Lutherans established St Paul's cemetery and a school.
In 1902 the post office directory recorded a co-operative dairy factory, two stores and a list of farmers, of whom 90% or more had German surnames. The proportion did not change in the directory's 1949 edition.
Hatton Vale became the Queensland headquarters of the Apostolic church and in 1950 it built its cathedral there. Designed by Karl Langer, the cathedral seats over 1200 people. A hall (1980) can seat 1600 people.
Rural Hatton Vale altered during the 1990s-2000s when residential development offered affordable houses within commuting distance of employment centres. There are local shopping, a golf course and recreation club, a community church (additional to the Apostolic cathedral) and a primary school with several hundred pupils.
Hatton Vale's census population have been:
| census date | population |
|---|---|
| 2006 | 1266 |
| 2011 | 1138 |
F.O. Theile, One hundred years of the Lutheran church in Queensland, Brisbane, United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia, Publication Committee of the Queensland District, 1938
Hatton Vale State School centenary: souvenir booklet, Laidley, Hatton Vale State School, 1981
The Apostolic Church of Queensland and Hatton Vale community centenary 1883-1983, Brisbane, the church, 1983
