BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Australia/Melbourne BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20200404T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20201003T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20210403T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20211002T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20220402T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20221001T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20230401T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20230930T160000 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220413T170000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220413T183000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080418 CREATED:20220309T230430Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010012Z UID:16885-1649869200-1649874600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Yarrowee: Uncovering the secrets of the Ballarat River | Session 1 DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/2022-twilight-talks-season-1-session-1/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Culture,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/tt-banner-22-V2.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220408T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220408T210000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080418 CREATED:20220310T034545Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220310T035444Z UID:16974-1649444400-1649451600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Joe Avati | 25 Live - Have Some Respect Tour DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/joe-avati/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,Comedy,Externally Produced Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/unnamed-6-e1646884459713.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220407T110000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220407T114500 DTSTAMP:20260418T080418 CREATED:20220322T042236Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010452Z UID:17253-1649329200-1649331900@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:BALLARAT ANZACS: Stories of Courage Sacrifice & Larrikinism | A Talk with Garry Snowden DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/ballarat-anzacs-stories-of-courage-sacrifice-and-larrikinism-garry-snowden/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Culture,Exhibition ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/events-image-1600-1200-anzac-final.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220404T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220428T140000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080418 CREATED:20220303T225404Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010329Z UID:16411-1649066400-1651154400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Anzacs | Display | Talks | Research DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/ballarat-anzacs-display-talks-research/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Culture,Exhibition ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/events-image-1600-1200-anzac-final.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220326T200000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220326T223000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080418 CREATED:20220209T003958Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220322T235440Z UID:15994-1648324800-1648333800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:To be rescheduled - Beatles Legacy @ The BMI DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/beatles-legacy/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screen-Shot-2022-01-31-at-1.18.19-pm-e1644367182115.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220320T090000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220320T140000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220128T024202Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220319T030656Z UID:15603-1647766800-1647784800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:BMI Maker & Community Market DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bmi-maker-community-market-2/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Market ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/maker_image-e1628392488945.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220312T200000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220312T213000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220302T072752Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220302T072752Z UID:16318-1647115200-1647120600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:David Quirk - Astonishing Obscurity DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/david-quirk/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Comedy,Externally Produced Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Quirk-BMI.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220312T180000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220312T190000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220302T073238Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T005806Z UID:16323-1647108000-1647111600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Melbourne International Comedy Festival Class Clowns | Ballarat Heat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/classclowns2022/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Comedy,Externally Produced Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Class-Clowns-BMI.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220310T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220310T213000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220204T062829Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220307T015928Z UID:15917-1646938800-1646947800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society - De Gaulle DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bfs-de-gaulle/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/MV5BZjE5YmMwMWMtM2FkNy00NzkzLWJlNDItMmI1YTdhZTgxZmI1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTAwMzM3NDI3._V1_-e1643956050262.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220302T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220320T140000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220302T004804Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010339Z UID:16266-1646215200-1647784800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Exhibition of Works | Oaky and Ginger Upcycled DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/exhibition-of-works-oaky-and-ginger-upcycled/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Exhibition ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/175099587_191865189262286_8462354857318695019_n-e1646206149256.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220226T200000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220226T220000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220204T030314Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220215T060230Z UID:15893-1645905600-1645912800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Melbourne International Comedy Festival | Outta Town - Ballarat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/outtatown2022/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Comedy,Externally Produced Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Outta-Town-800x600-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220222T103000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220222T120000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211029T002157Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010835Z UID:13619-1645525800-1645531200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Reading Room | February DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-reading-room-february/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/the-reading-room-event-header-final-e1640069925423.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220218T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220218T193000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220202T003951Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T011042Z UID:15776-1645205400-1645212600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Ballarat Imaginarium - Opening Event DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-ballarat-imaginarium-opening-event/ LOCATION:The Ballarat Imaginarium\, 119A Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,Culture,Exhibition ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/TBI-square-2-e1643944035184.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220213T130000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220213T153000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20210808T040000Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211221T071857Z UID:11138-1644757200-1644766200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Push All-Ages Tour | Mallrat + Ninajirachi | Ballarat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-push/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Externally Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/AllAgesLogo.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220210T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220210T213000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20220204T061805Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220204T061931Z UID:15912-1644519600-1644528600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society - Heroic Losers DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bfs-heroic-losers/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/heroiclosers800x538-e1643955657401.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220130T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220130T170000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211221T065511Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211221T065511Z UID:15176-1643551200-1643562000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Three Tenors - Ballarat Italian Association DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-three-tenors/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Externally Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/the-three-tenors-e1640069815683.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220125T143000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220125T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211027T002244Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010844Z UID:13552-1643121000-1643126400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Reading Room | January DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-reading-room-january/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/the-reading-room-event-header-final-e1640069925423.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220122T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220122T220000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211221T063037Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211221T063754Z UID:15170-1642879800-1642888800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Charlie Wilde 'Allihies' Tour - Ballarat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/charliewilde-allihies/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Externally Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/CHARLIE-WILDE-tour-cover-e1640068623114.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220122T090000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20220122T140000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211130T045553Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211130T050242Z UID:14667-1642842000-1642860000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:BMI Book Sale Fundraiser DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bmi-book-sale-fundraiser/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/book_sale_10_1_square-e1640068474344.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211218T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211218T230000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211101T024622Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211101T024626Z UID:13718-1639854000-1639868400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:A Very Motown Christmas with Motor City Sounds DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/motown-christmas/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Website_Image-01.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211211T123000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211211T223000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211201T051643Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T024509Z UID:14716-1639225800-1639261800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:SoundCheck Studios - Summer Sounds 2021 DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/soundcheck-2021/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Externally Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/245917318_438458011243533_1293259393769842968_n.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="SoundCheck Studios":MAILTO:hello@soundcheckstudios.com.au END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211205T140000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211205T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211201T050904Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211201T050904Z UID:14705-1638712800-1638720000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Gather - Podcast Party DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/gather/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,Externally Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/261700737_1311501322652197_6658001133272834236_n.jpg ORGANIZER;CN="Minerva's Books & Ideas":MAILTO:minervasbooksballarat@gmail.com END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211130T143000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211130T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211027T013848Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211104T234011Z UID:13579-1638282600-1638288000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Reading Room | November DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-reading-room-november/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/the-reading-room-event-header-final-e1640069925423.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211120T090000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211120T140000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20210621T014337Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010809Z UID:8354-1637398800-1637416800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:BMI Maker & Community Market | Spring DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/bmi-maker-community-market-spring/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture,Market ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/maker_image-e1628392488945.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211119T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211119T190000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211101T024250Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211101T024250Z UID:13714-1637343000-1637348400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Sparkling Wine Tasting Workshop with Dr Amie Brûlée DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/sparkling-workshop/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Wine_Pour.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211026T143000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211026T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211008T235001Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010852Z UID:13020-1635258600-1635264000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:The Reading Room | A book reading & discussion group DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/the-reading-room/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture,Library ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/linda-olsson-let-me-sing-you-gentle-songs-e1633914060658.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211022T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211022T190000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20211007T005311Z LAST-MODIFIED:20211007T005315Z UID:12942-1634923800-1634929200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Champagne Tasting Workshop @ BMI DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/champagne-day-2021/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Externally Produced Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cbad3a6926d348a1e3bea5e2e0013741-copy.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211020T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211020T130000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20210816T062718Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T011012Z UID:11408-1634724000-1634734800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Tin Art Workshop | Melinda Muscat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/tin-art-workshop-melinda-muscat-2/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/burst-of-sunshine-2020-melinda-muscat-tin-art_adjusted_1600_1200-v3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211009T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211009T130000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20210816T031559Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010537Z UID:11326-1633773600-1633784400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Tin Art Workshop | Melinda Muscat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/tin-art-workshop-melinda-muscat/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/burst-of-sunshine-2020-melinda-muscat-tin-art_adjusted_1600_1200-v3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211002T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20211119T160000 DTSTAMP:20260418T080419 CREATED:20210817T052952Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220527T010400Z UID:11533-1633168800-1637337600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Exhibition of Works | Melinda Muscat DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n February 25\n\n \n\n @ \n\n\n6:00 pm\n\n \n\n\n\n \n - \n\n8:00 pm\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n$10 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Humffray Room \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Outrageous Fortunes \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The Adventures of Mary Fortune\, Crime-writer\, and Her Criminal Son \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving' - John Connolly \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 'Mary Fortune's bold fictions electrified colonial Australia. But her own story\, pieced together by two tenacious literary detectives\, was best of all.' —Gideon Haigh \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n The gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer and her career-criminal son. When Mary Fortune arrived in Melbourne with her infant son in 1855\, she was determined to reinvent herself. The Victorian goldfields were just the place. After a time selling sly grog and a bigamous marriage to a policeman\, Mary became a pioneering journalist and author. The Detective’s Album was the first book of detective stories to be published in Australia and the first by a woman to be published anywhere in the world. Her work appeared in magazines and newspapers for over forty years – but none of her readers knew who she was. She wrote using pseudonyms\, often adopting the voice of a male narrator to write about ‘unladylike’ subjects. When Mary died in 1911\, her identity was nearly lost. In Outrageous Fortunes\, Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex retrieve Fortune’s astonishing career and discover an equally absorbing story in her illegitimate son\, George. While Mary was writing crime\, George was committing it\, with convictions for theft and bank robbery. In their intertwined stories\, crime fiction meets true crime\, and Melbourne’s literary bohemia consorts with the criminal underworld. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n About the authors \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong\, examining the work of Mary Fortune. She has contributed chapters to The Routledge Companion to Australian Literature and The Unsocial Sociability of Women’s Life Writing. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Megan Brown\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex’s books include Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab\, which won the 2015 Victorian Community History Award\, Women Writers and Detectives in the Nineteenth Century and Saltwater in the Ink: Voices from the Australian Seas. She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is an honorary fellow at La Trobe University. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Lucy Sussex\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Host \n \n \n \n \n \n Meg Tasker: Dr Meg Tasker taught British and Australian literature and cultural studies for many years\, her most notable publication being the first and only critical biography of Anglo-Australian writer\, Francis Adams (Struggle and Storm\, Melb UP 2001). She has published quite a few articles and conference papers on Adams and other 19th century writers\, including a handful co-written with Lucy Sussex as part of an ARC funded project on Australian writers in London. Formerly general editor of the Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies (AJVS)\, and President of the Australasian Victorian Studies Association (AVSA)\, she left her position as Associate Professor at Federation University Australia (formerly the University of Ballarat) in 2018\, and is now\, like Lucy and Megan\, happy to be a Victorianist-at-large. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Dr Meg Tasker\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Enquiries:  Any event specific enquires should be direct to library@ballaratmi.org.au \n \n \n \n \n \n $10 per person plus booking fee & gst includes light refreshment. All proceeds go to the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute to support the staging of our author events. Book on-line or contact Rosemary at the Libary via email library@ballaratmi.org.au or phone (03) 5331 3042 \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Get Tickets\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Collins Booksellers\, Ballart on Lydiard will be handling book sales for the event. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Why Not become a member\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 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 and create. Always Was\, Always Will Be\, Aboriginal Land. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n More author talks \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI news \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ANZAC Day | Ballarat Arch of Victory & Avenue of Honour\n ANZAC Day Feel the Spirits  The Arch of Victory Avenue... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n 2026 BMI Appeal | Give now\n A message from the President Support the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week\n The Drowning Fiona Lowe Don’t miss Fiona at the BMI... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Ballarat National Theatre | Ballarat Times by Evie Lamb\n Lots to dig about The Dog Logs by Evie Lamb\,... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Load More\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Events URL:https://ballaratmi.org.au/event/exhibition-of-works-melinda-muscat/ LOCATION:Soldiers Hill CBD | Pop-up\, 512 Macarthur Street\, Soldiers Hill\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Art programs,BMI Produced Event,Culture,Exhibition ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/be-my-valentine-2-2020-melinda-muscat-tin-art-adjusted-1600-1200.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR