It was based on the area south of Ipswich and stretched toward the New South Wales border, although in subsequent redistributions was reduced in size away from the growing Brisbane area. It was named after the Fassifern Valley.
Fassifern was a safe Country/National district for most of its existence. It was abolished in the 1991 redistribution under the Goss government, and was largely replaced by the new district of Beaudesert.