09/04/2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The Private Island | The Last Illusion of Paige White Ali Lowe | Vanessa McCausland. The Private Island Ali Lowe Ali Lowe New Year's Eve, Loloma Island, Fiji. At one of the most exclusive island resorts in the Pacific ocean, the champagne is poured, the fireworks ready and the countdown to…
29/04/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets Vanish Shelley Burr. Some Stay. Some Leave. Some Disappear... Author, Shelley Burr | Photo: Yen Eriksen Media People go to the isolated Karpathy farm looking for a new life… and are never seen again. A chilling thriller from the award-winning and bestselling author of Australian noir, Shelley Burr.Lane Holland's crime-solving career…
30/04/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets The Life of Walter Withers Until now there has been no family history of Walter Withers (1854-1914), a notable but underestimated Australian landscape artist of the Heidelberg school. For nearly 200 years his Birmingham ancestors had worked as tailors, sometimes also butchers. During the…
01/05/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The Mademoiselle Alliance Natasha Lester. Inspired by a True Story A remarkable Australian talent - The Age A master storyteller - Daily Telegraph How did a young Parisienne mother, celebrated for her beauty and glamour, come to lead the largest spy network in France? A powerful, heartbreaking historical novel by the…
04/05/2025 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Humffray Room The Deepest Thing: A Poetic Memoir E A Gleeson. An Afternoon of folk music and poetry. The Deepest Thing: A Poetic Memoir | E A Gleeson The poetic memoir portrays the beauty and harshness of my sister Denise’s life. The poems depict the reality of her medical conditions, the characteristics of her personality…
07/05/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The House of Kwa Mimi Kwa. The dragon circles and swoops ... a tiger running alone in the night ... Mimi Kwa ignored the letter for days. When she finally opened it, the news was so shocking her hair turned grey. Why would a father sue his own daughter? The collision…
14/05/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets Burning Mountain Darcy Tindale. Five friends went up - Four came down. ‘Dark, wild and cracking with tension, Burning Mountain leaves other outback noir titles in the red dust.’ - Jack Heath Detective Rebecca Giles returns in Darcy Tindale’s highly anticipated sequel, Burning Mountain. Drawing inspiration from Darcy’s childhood in the…
28/05/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The Limestone Road Nicole Alexander. The Only Way Forward is through the Past... A Modern Australian Classic - Christine Wells. Known for her captivating depictions of historical rural Australian life, bestselling author Nicole Alexander returns with her twelfth novel, The Limestone Road - a stirring narrative about one young soldier’s courageous…
04/06/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets In The Margins Gail Holmes. Vivid, wise and moving - Suzanne Leal. A Sheer Delight - Sally Colin-James. Gail Holmes | Photo Kristian Gehradte In The Margins is an extraordinary debut. A chronicle of a woman who lived and wrote in the margins of time. Inspired by the real life of…
25/06/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The Mix-Up Kylie Ladd. One Tiny Mistake, Two Families affected Kylie Ladd A beautifully told and thought-provoking novel about a mix-up that leaves two children wondering who they really are and where they belong. What would you do if you found out you'd been raising another couple's child - and they've…
08/07/2025 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm $11.78 TBA Get Tickets J.S. Davidson Hunted: The Aztec Saga If one should fall, they each will fade... Tethered: The Aztec Saga Darkness will come, no one will evade... Hunted: The Aztec Saga | J. S. Davidson Tethered: The Aztec Saga | J. S. Davidson I don’t know how long I have been in this room.…
08/07/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 TBA Get Tickets Ella Stone Breakfast With You Breakfast WIth You | Ella Stone The plan is simple. Nicole will return to her hometown of Riverbanks for the funeral and provide a eulogy for a father she no longer knows. Afterwards, she will slip back to Sydney where she'll wear the infamous Diamond Dress to…
Trivia Night Fundraiser
26 August Doors open 6.45pm | Tickets also available at the door
$25 per person | $20 BMI members
Minerva's Secrets Night Tours
Tue 19 May with special visit to Lantern Vaults
Tour 1 at 7pm – Tour 2 at 9pm.
Calling for Pre-loved books
These donation assist in our Library Fundraising Activities
We can take delivery during regular Library operating hours. See website footer.
Coming in November…
Stella Day Out, Ballarat, Rachael Johns & Margaret Hickey
Spring Season, History Talks:
Ballarat's Henry Lawson - The Dragon's Den - Gold! Gold! Gold!
Wed 3, 17 & 24 September, 5.30pm.
Bubbly on arrival featuring quality items from our Vintage Shop
Pre-Sale $60 from 6 Aug to 9 Aug - $65 thereafter
The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 2026 Calendar
Featuring illustrations from our Heritage Book Collection $40
Your gift will be tax-deductible this financial year if you make it before June 30.
Like many organisations the BMI faces significant funding challenges.
