Roadvale is a rural village in the Fassifern Valley district, 10 km north of Boonah and 35 km south of Ipswich. When the railway was extended from Harrisville to Boonah in 1887 the station was built at the junction of a road and the line – hence 'Roadvale'. The Fassifern Valley became fairly intensively farmed. The Roadvale primary school was opened in 1889, a post office opened in 1891, and by 1902 the post office directory recorded a branch of the Lowood creamery, two stores and nearly 50 farmers.
In the next decade there were also a Methodist church, Church of England (1911, 1912) and the Radke, Royal and Commercial Hotels. In 1915, much of the town was lost in a fire, although two hotels survived or were rebuilt. The school of arts (1904) survived until a fire in 1968, but was rebuilt.
By the late 1940s only the Royal Hotel continued, along with two stores and a branch of the Commercial Bank. Dairy farms have been replaced by rural/residential development. Roadvale has a general store, the Royal Hotel and the primary school. Its census population have been:
| Census Date | Population |
|---|---|
| 1911 | 382 |
| 1933 | 338 |
| 1954 | 184 |
| 2006 | 559 |
| 2011 | 443 |
C.K. Pfeffer, The Fassifern story: a history of Boonah Shire and surroundings to 1989, Boonah Shire Council, 1991
Roadvale State School centenary 1889-1989, Roadvale State School Centenary Committee, 1989
