In the late 1870s, Paddington was known as "Ti Tree Flats", and its postal address was simply "back of the gaol", being outside the Hale Street boundary of the city.

Further out, the scenery was dotted with trees, vegetable patches, goats, tents, humpies, cottages, and the odd, elegant mansion.

Johann Christian Heussler built the stately home Fernberg in 1865, and in 1920 the Queensland Government purchased it as a residence for the Governor.

[1] Rosalie is a small locality within Paddington, covering about 1,000 by 800 metres (3,300 by 2,600 ft), on ground that slopes down towards Gregory Park.

It is named after the station of a Darling Downs grazier, John Frederick McDougall, who in 1882 purchased portion 225 of the Parish of Enoggera.

[1] The first mechanics' institutes or Schools of Arts were established in Britain in the early 1800s and were intended to assist self-improvement and to promote moral, social and intellectual growth, by providing lectures, discussions and lending libraries to a rising middle class.

The first School of Arts committee in Queensland was established in Brisbane in 1849 with the aim of "the advancement of the community in literary, philosophic and scientific subjects".

The outpouring of grief in Australia that accompanied the deaths of 60,000 servicepeople in World War I, and the fact that the dead were buried overseas, led to a period of memorial construction across the nation.

At the stump-capping ceremony of 9 July 1927, official guests included the Governor, Sir John Goodwin; Brisbane's Mayor William Jolly; Colonel Donald Charles Cameron, Member of House of Representatives for Brisbane, and a decorated veteran of the Boer War and World War I; and Ned Hanlon, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Ithaca.

Other community activities have included public meetings, concerts, exhibitions, fancy dress balls, ANZAC Day commemorations, martial arts classes, and indoor bowls.

[1] Between 1942 and 1957, on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights the hall became the 300-seat Beverley Theatre, with a commercial photographer showing films.

Number 16 Nash Street contained a dressmaker in 1930, Trump Cycles from 1938 to 1942, and a sub-centre of the Maternal and Child Welfare Service from 1942, which was still open one day a week in 1978.

A sign also projects from the middle of the front gable, which was originally decorated with the words 1928 Rosalie School of Arts Commemoration Hall.

[1] The RSL Hall in Rosalie straddles the southern half of three allotments which total 1131 square metres in area.

To the north of the hall is a software business in a small timber house, which is clad with chamfer boards, and a carpark, accessed from Elizabeth Street.

[1] The gable fronting Nash Street is decorated with cover strips, forming a simple geometric pattern.

The ground floor of the northern wing also contains toilets, which are accessed from the tunnel that runs underneath the entrance stairway.

Near the office, at the top of the entrance stairway, is a large Ithaca Honour Board, listing those who served in World War I.

The former School of Arts Memorial Hall in Rosalie demonstrates the system of adult education that functioned in Queensland during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.