21/03/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Felix Schmidt is backpacking on the Camino de Santiago when he meets the love of his life, the beautiful French Pascaline. He brings her back to Australia where he joins a new firm of management consultants. Deeply engrossed in he company’s growth, he neglects Pascaline. She believes his addiction has reduced him as a person,…
03/04/2024 @ 7:00 pm - 24/04/2024 @ 8:30 pm Free Weekly classes 7pm Wednesdays These classes offer simple, practical methods to improve the quality of our life and develop inner peace through meditation and Buddhist teachings. Classes consist of two guided meditations and a teaching to help us solve our daily problems and find the lasting happiness we seek. Beginners welcome. Free for Kadampa members…
04/04/2024 @ 5:30 pm - 25/04/2024 @ 10:30 pm $3 – $80 Meet Thursdays in the Humffray Room
07/04/2024 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm $36 – $40 Australias most wanted comedian is back After three years off... and he's not here to f*ck spiders! That's right. Not even if they're dressed in a sexy spider nurse outfit. He just hasn't got the time. And neither do you. Because life happens whether you like it or not. You can tiptoe around it, have a whinge or…
11/04/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 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 Best Book Award for Literary Fiction. She is the author of…
11/04/2024 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Chinese Neo-noir Crime Thriller When small-time mob leader Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) accidentally kills a cop, a bounty is placed on his head, forcing him on the run from both the police as well as dangerous gangsters out for the reward. Hiding out in China’s densely populated (and deeply divided) Wuhan province, Zhou becomes entangled…
12/04/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Free Wake the Dust by Rita McInnes Jane Harper (The Dry) meets Nick Cave in backroad noir and beyond. When burnt-out Aussie nurse and wannabe writer, Ella, flees her suffocating life in Melbourne for a housesitting assignment on a remote rural property, she is thrust into a brutal and unfamiliar landscape. Her budding friendship with Tom…
13/04/2024 @ 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm $110 – $120 Take part in this important BMI fundraiser Featuring three fabulous bands: The Hideaways, The Harmonies & Surf Shadows The Hideaways The Hideaways takes its name from the iconic Ballarat cafe we all used to visit in the 60’s. We play every Thursday afternoon in Russell’s studio where we rock on to our most loved tunes.…
14/04/2024 @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm $64.90 Songs for Suzanne - The music and poetry of Leonard Cohen The fascinatingly enigmatic Leonard Cohen’s first clutch of classic albums saw him become one of the leading proponents of folk. Songs for Suzanne will be a celebration of the beginnings of a distinguished career of a brilliant singer-songwriter. Alongside standards including “Bird On A…
19/04/2024 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm $46.00 A show where Kinne shares too much information about all of the things wrong with him. And when you’re in your mid 40s dating someone in their 30s, those things wrong with you are going to become slightly more apparent. But hey, if it means you get to walk away from the show feeling better…
21/04/2024 @ 2:30 pm - 4:15 pm $15 – $35 Violinist Susan Pierotti and pianist Brian Chapman join forces to present a Duo-Recital comprising a rich and varied selection of works by Ludwig van Beethoven. The concert opens with a perennial favourite - the engagingly melodious "Spring" Sonata in F, Op.24, followed by the composer's final Violin Sonata - the serenely pastoral G major Sonata…
23/04/2024 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Free Internationally bestselling author Dervla McTiernan comes to Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to discuss her suspenseful new novel about two families at war. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and…
Minerva's Secrets Night Tours
Tue 19 May with special visit to Lantern Vaults
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
