File:Housing Commission Estate, Inala, September 1953.jpg

English: The tiny township of Serviceton was selected in 1946 by the Serviceton Co-operative Society for development to help meet the shortage of post-war housing. The Society purchased 850 acres of land which was taken over by the Queensland Housing Commission in 1950, to which it added another 200 acres. The area was renamed Inala in 1953 to avoid confusion with the town of Serviceton in South Australia.

Inala was planned as a satellite town of Brisbane and houses were largely Modernist Revival style with elements of Art Deco.

Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 4896

The history of Inala started as Serviceton suburb, the establishment of which was a meeting held in a Brisbane RSL Hall in May 1946. A group of ex-servicemen, led by Harold (Hock) Davis, were seeking affordable accommodation for their families during the post-war housing shortage. The Serviceton Co-operative Society was formed and they purchased 480 hectares of flood-safe land, which was then divided amongst the shareholders, giving them 800 square meters each. At that stage, Inala was planned as a satellite town set on a broad, high, gently sloping ridge. In 1949–1950 the Queensland Housing Commission purchased Serviceton, comprising approximately 850 acres (3.4 km) of land, from the faltering Serviceton Housing Co-operative.

The Housing Commission subsequently annexed another 200 acres (0.8 km) to the suburb and changed its name to Inala in 1953 to avoid postal confusion with another Serviceton in South Australia. The name 'Inala' is an indigenous word meaning 'resting place', as it was a traditional stopping point for indigenous travellers on their way east to the Moreton Bay region prior to colonisation. The traditional tribe is Jagera.