Exhibition | Not the Last Picture Show

Hugh Williamson Foyer, Level 1

May 17 @ 10:30 am - May 30 @ 4:00 pm Free MH 94 Coliseum Grenville Street, Ballarat Just a year after the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph in 1895, the first screenings of this new technology of ‘moving pictures’ were held at the Mechanics’ Institute. By the 1970’s, cinema’s death was being heralded after […]

Free

Exhibition | Not the Last Picture Show: From the Archives

Heritage Reading Room 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 17 @ 10:30 am - May 30 @ 4:00 pm Free – $5 This event is part of the Ballarat Heritage Festival This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work, learn […]

Free – $5

Minerva’s Secrets | Night Tour 1 | This session is now fully booked.

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 17 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm $28.69 Explore tales of the weird and supernatural – the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute at night. Looking for a unique way to explore Ballarat’s rich history and culture? Look no further than the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute’s Night Tours! This beautiful heritage building dates back to the 1860s and […]

$28.69

Minerva’s Secrets | Night Tour 2

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 17 @ 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm $28.69 Explore tales of the weird and supernatural – the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute at night. Looking for a unique way to explore Ballarat’s rich history and culture? Look no further than the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute’s Night Tours! This beautiful heritage building dates back to the 1860s and […]

$28.69

Day Tour of the BMI | Ballarat Heritage Festival

Lending Library 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, Victoria, Australia

A colourful history of the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute and it’s people. By appointment only, (to organise a volunteer guide we require 24hrs notice). Group Tours: Group tours can also be accommodated on other days.

$10

Minerva’s Secrets | Night Tour 3 | This session is now fully booked

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 21 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm $28.69 Explore tales of the weird and supernatural – the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute at night. Looking for a unique way to explore Ballarat’s rich history and culture? Look no further than the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute’s Night Tours! This beautiful heritage building dates back to the 1860s and […]

$28.69

Minerva’s Secrets | Night Tour 4

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 21 @ 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm $28.69 Explore tales of the weird and supernatural – the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute at night. Looking for a unique way to explore Ballarat’s rich history and culture? Look no further than the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute’s Night Tours! This beautiful heritage building dates back to the 1860s and […]

$28.69

Twilight Talks 2024, Season 2, Session 5 | Stories of the Silver Screen in the Golden City

BMI - Humffray Room 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 22 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm $8 – $12 This special edition of our regular Twilight Talks series will feature speakers discussing the history of cinema in Ballarat, complimenting our free exhibition. Just a year after the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph in 1895, the first screenings were held at the Mechanics' Institute, […]

$8 – $12

The Drinks That Made Ballarat

Itinerant Spirits The Goods Shed, Lydiard Street North, Ballarat

May 22 @ 6:00 pm - 9:30 pm $106.14 An all-drinking, all-eating exploration of the booze-fuelled birth of colonial Ballarat. Starting with a native botanical cocktail and snacks at Ballarat’s newest distillery, Itinerant Spirits, your expert guides - award-winning food and wine writers Richard Cornish, Max Allen and Ballarats own Zac Hill - will lead […]

$106.14

BMI165th Birthday Devonshire Tea Party

BMI - Humffray Room 117-119 Sturt Street, Ballarat Central, VIC, Australia

May 26 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm $15 As the Institute is 165 years old this year, we will take the opportunity to celebrate during the festival, by including a heritage-style Devonshire Tea as an afternoon Birthday Party, the first of many celebratory events for 2024. This will be on offered as a ticketed […]

$15

BMI Fundraiser

Featuring:
The Hideaways,
The Harmonies &
Surf Shadows. 

2 course dinner & lots
of dancing