15/08/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $8 – $11 NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK | The Secret History of Sharks with Professor John Long.
16/08/2025 @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm $69.90 Get Tickets Live & intimate. Get ready Australia for a Night To Remember as Australian heartthob Craig McLachlan brings his unique & exciting Live & Intimate stage show to theatre’s and venues across Australia. Craig McLachlan – actor, singer, musician & songwriter from TV’s Ramsay Street to 1950’s Ballarat & across stages of the world,…
03/09/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Ballarat's Henry Lawson, Unknown facts presented by Hedley Thomson The young Henry visited Ballarat, specifically to ‘bone up’ on the happenings at Eureka on Sunday 3rd December 1854; he proceeded to write numerous poems and prose pieces about the ‘battle’ and – more so…
04/09/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm $11.78 Presented in Partnership with The Wheeler Centre September 4 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm $11.78 Minerva Space Get Tickets Image courtesy The Wheeler Centre The Eye of the Dragonfly: A Life Seeing the World Through Sport. by Tracey Lee Holmes With honesty and insight, Tracey Lee Holmes looks back on a pioneering career and…
17/09/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Saving Dragons: The Life and Times of Russell Goldfield (Louey Yeung Man) Jack by Dianne Dempsey Russell Jack, the visionary founder of the internationally renowned Golden Dragon Museum, spent his life breaking barriers and preserving the history of the Chinese Australian community. Growing up…
24/09/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Gold! Gold! A comparison between the Ballarat & Bendigo Goldfields. An overview of the production of gold and its implications from the goldrush era of the 1850s up until today in both the Ballarat and Bendigo regions. Historian Dr Phil Roberts will provide a…
29/10/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets A Surgeon Commander & A Leading Cook - Ballarat Connections to HMAS Sydney 2 in 1941 HMAS Sydney 2 Crew, 1934 It is nearly 84 years this November that the mighty pride of the Royal Australian Navy was lost together with 645 crew in…
05/11/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Recent War Memorabilia – from WW2 to Afghanistan. Left to right - Australian Service Medal - Afghanistan Medal - International Force East Timor Medal - Australian Service Medal for Korea - Iraq Medal - Vietnam Medal.On ANZAC, Vietnam Veterans and Remembrance Days each year…
19/11/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Her Majesty's Renovation This talk will examine the recent renovation of Her Majesty's Theatre and explore the challenges, rewards and outcomes for the community that accompany transformational change to a treasured Heritage Building in the heart of the City of Ballarat. Speaker: Richard Nicholson…
26/11/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Ballarat Arts Foundation: 25 Years Old The Ballarat Arts Foundation (BAF) has been supporting the emerging artists of Ballarat for 25 years. The Foundation is completely community funded and supports artists from any genre, with an alumni group numbering over 500 artists who have…
January 28 @ 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm $25 Minerva Space Living with inner peace is not something we have to wait for. It is something we can actively cultivate every day. Our mind has incredible power. It can create stress and unease, or it can support a life filled with stability, joy, and meaning. In this course, inspired by Buddha’s teachings, we will explore how…
July 24 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm Free Humffray Room Get Tickets The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact surviving set of the Educational Collections of Victorian Plants (1874–1876). A herbarium and series of books compiled by the first Chief Botanist of the Colony of Victoria, Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller. This presentation reveals the history and significance of this remarkable collection,…
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.
