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 […]
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 […]
May 29 @ 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, […]
June 1 @ 10:00 am - June 2 @ 2:00 pm Free Books priced from $1 - more for collectable items. Image, artist impression only | Photo by | helloiamtugce Don't miss our book sale this weekend. Admission and parking are free. There are hundreds of books - some of which are in gently used […]
July 12 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 The Homestead in the Eucalypts Léonie Kelsall. Sometimes finding the way forward means retracing your past. When student doctor Taylor Lawrence's city life is turned upside down, she seeks sanctuary on her grandparents' farm in the South Australian countryside. During the lonely nights, she fantasises of […]
July 16 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Humffray Room Edenhope Louise Le Nay. 'A moving story about one woman’s unconditional love, the kindness of strangers, and what’s right as well as what’s wrong with the way we live now.’ Amanda Lohrey, Miles Franklin Award-winning author of 'The Labyrinth' Marnie is sixty-three and downwardly […]
BMI FUNDRAISER | This event is proudly supported by the Fashions In Time Group.
RARE BOOK WEEK | This Vintage Book Sale will feature a variety of titles including fiction and non-fiction.
July 29 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Humffray Room Leah Kaminsky Leah is a physician and award-winning writer. Her debut novel, The Waiting Room, won the Voss Literary Prize. The Hollow Bones won both the Literary Fiction and Historical Fiction categories of the 2019 International Book Awards, and the 2019 American Book Fest’s […]
NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK | Researchers from across Australia are working at an underground lab in Stawell to uncover one of the great mysteries of the universe – the nature of dark matter.
August 8 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 The Creeper by Margaret Hickey. The chilling new mystery novel from the award-winning author of bestsellers Cutters End, Stone Town and Broken Bay. Victim ... or killer? For the last decade, the small mountain town of Edenville in Victoria’s high country has been haunted by the horrific murders of five […]
August 20 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 The Ghost of Briar Rose Anna Romer Everyone says the old mountainside house is haunted. Which is perfect because ghost hunter Cleary Branchwood knows it’s easy money. He’ll buy the propertydirt cheap, flush out the poor wretch of a ghost they call Briar Rose, and resell […]
Minerva's Secrets Night Tours
Night Tours
Fri 31 Oct – Sat 15 Nov
& Fri 12 Dec
Tour 1 at 7pm
Tour 2 at 9pm.
Linen & Lace Exhbition
Includes Devonshire Tea | $20
Sat & Sun 22, 23 Oct
10am-4pm
Remembrance Day:
A Surgeon Commander & A Leading Cook - Recent War Memoribilia
Wed 29 Oct & 5 Nov, 5.30pm.
Coming soon…
Rozzi Bazzani. Stella Day Out: Katia Ariel & Samah Sabawi, Rachael Johns
Coming soon…
Dianne Dempsey, Chrissie Bellbrae, Paula Gleeson, Rozzi Bazzani.
Coming in November…
Stella Day Out, Ballarat, Rachael Johns & Margaret Hickey
Australian Heritage Festival
Minerva's Secrets
25 April – Tour 1 at 7.30pm – fully booked
Tour 2 at 9.30pm – still tickets.
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 | $60
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.
2 course dinner & lots
of dancing
