The neo-gothic Church of Our Lady of the Rosary located at 135, Old Mt Barker Road Stirling East, was erected during 1881-1882. It became Stirling's first Catholic church. The design for the church has been furnished by Michael McMullen, an Irishman from Cork who had been practicing as a builder and architect in South Australia for at least two decades. An Adelaide builder named Maloney was contracted to build the church.

A time capsule is buried beneath the foundation stone. It contains a Latin document commemorating the laying of the stone, along with a jar of medals of the Supreme Pontiff and coins of the realm current at that time.

At the time of the solemn dedication of the church in January 1884 (more than a year and a half after its opening) the press described it as "one of the handsomest" in South Australia, ornamented with 13 beautiful stained glass windows and as having cost nearly £1000.

The windows were the work of William Brooks, son of Edward Brooks who owned the first regular studio of coloured glass windows in the colony of South Australia. The windows commemorate a number of Catholic communities in the Adelaide Hills and also some clergy and individual lay people.

The church has been authentically restored since a fire in the building in 1999. The restoration includes a set of Stations of the Cross, which also carry plaques commemorating early residents in the local area.

In a 1997 document (compiled by consultants Taylor Weidenhofer and Sarah Laurence), recommending the church for inclusion in a local heritage register, the building is described as a fine stone church with dressed stone quoins. The building is of typical 19th Century church design with a steeply pitched gable ended roof and a small gable ended perched over the entrance. The windows are pointed arched windows. The is a mounting stone for house riders. Keystones exist to the rear, possibly with the thought of further extensions. In terms of heritage value, it displays aesthetic merit and design characteristics of significance to the local area and it has played an important part in the lives of the local residents.