Our Story

Located in beautiful Fernvale, right on the main street. The Brisbane Valley Tavern offers great food, great service and a family atmosphere.

Fernvale, gorgeous a rural town, is 35 km west of central Brisbane and 20 km north-west of Ipswich.

Situated in the south-east of the Brisbane Valley, Fernvale lies in close proximity to areas like Vernor, Fairney View (the railway station south of Fernvale) and Wivenhoe Dam, so it a great place to stop during scenic drives.

This historic town was first known as Harrisborough, and Fernvale became a recognisable locality with the opening of a Methodist church (1871) and a primary school (1874). The name was first used for the Fernvale railway station in 1884. The Ipswich railway was extended through Fernvale to Lowood in 1884 and a school of arts was active from about then into the 1890s. The railway and the agriculturally more productive northern part of the Brisbane Valley, however, centred growth and population on Esk and Toogoolawah; each of these had dairy factories, and Collinton and Mount Beppo were productive mixed farming areas. Fernvale's population thus stayed at about a couple of hundred people, and Pugh's Queensland directory (1925) recorded a hotel, a blacksmith and four stores. Apart from the hotel, the Fernvale Hall (1934) has been the town's social centre.

Fernvale has a comprehensive range of shops, a hotel-motel, a pre-school centre and a primary school. Every Sunday morning, from 6am until noon, the Fernvale Markets (established in 1988) are open in the Fernvale Primary School grounds. The country markets feature more than a hundred stalls selling fruit and vegetables, often direct from the local farmer, homemade preserves, second hand goods and books, local crafts, handmade soaps, pets and poultry and a large variety of plants.

On 7 December 2002 the 8.3 kilometre Fernvale to Lowood section of the disused Brisbane Valley Railway opened as part of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail - a 148 kilometre recreation trail from Ipswich to Blackbutt which provides walkers, cyclists and horse riders an opportunity to experience the history and landscape of the Brisbane River Valley. Each year in July around 800 people assemble in the park to take part in the Fernvale-Lowood Rail Trail Fun Run to raise funds for Diabetes Queensland. The Fernvale War Memorial and flagpole is located near the public car park.

Whereas floods ended cotton growing, droughts and economic competition ended dairying around Fernvale in the 1960s. Some of the holdings were turned over to beef cattle, others to rural/residential subdivisions. Road commuting to Ipswich became an easy mode of travel to work. The railway closed in 1993.

Following flooding in 2011, a commemorative book and a mural were unveiled in Fernvale in 2013 to highlight the resilience of the local community. Floood waters inundated Fernvale again in January 2013.