BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute - ECPv6.16.4//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH 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:20230401T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20230930T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20240406T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20241005T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20250405T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20251004T160000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+1100 TZOFFSETTO:+1000 TZNAME:AEST DTSTART:20260404T160000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+1000 TZOFFSETTO:+1100 TZNAME:AEDT DTSTART:20261003T160000 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241111T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241111T204500 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240923T022643Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211627Z UID:58911-1731353400-1731357900@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Jack Rutter | Live at 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/jack-rutter/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/square-promo-jack-rutter.webp ORGANIZER;CN="Concerts Australia":MAILTO:michael@concertsaustralia.com END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241113T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241113T203000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240815T031557Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250325T015154Z UID:58387-1731524400-1731529800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Daily Rituals for Inner Peace 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/kadampa-meditation-series-13-november-24/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Daily-Rituals-for-Inner-Peace-Class.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241114T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241114T210000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240130T011936Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211643Z UID:50641-1731612600-1731618000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society | EO 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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-eo/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Film Society,Externally Produced Event,Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/eo-e1706577696477.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241116T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241116T160000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240822T060115Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211634Z UID:58493-1731751200-1731772800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Open Garden & Devonshire Tea - BMI Fundraiser | Errard Hall 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/open-garden-fundraiser/ LOCATION:Errard Hall\, Errard Street North\, Ballarat Central\, City of Ballarat\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Fundraiser,Important Dates,Members,Urban Agriculture Month ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/square-promo-v2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241116T130000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241116T140000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240801T232909Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211637Z UID:57891-1731762000-1731765600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Stella Day Out Ballarat: Writing about the Future | Kate Mildenhall in conversation with Van Badham 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/stella-day-out-1/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Important Dates,Library,Stella Day Out ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/stella-square-mildenhall.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241116T150000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241116T160000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20241002T020132Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211624Z UID:59146-1731769200-1731772800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Stella Day Out Ballarat: Travel Writing | Adriane Howell and Favel Parrett in conversation with Fiona Sweet. 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/stella-day-out-2/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Important Dates,Library,Stella Day Out ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/stella-square-travel2.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241120T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241120T183000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240924T024501Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211058Z UID:58970-1732123800-1732127400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks 2024\, Season 4 | Uncovering the Past: How James became King 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/twilight-talks-uncovering-the-past-3/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Festival,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Library,Members,Talk,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/square-promo-brian-omalley.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241120T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241120T203000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240815T032033Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T032134Z UID:58393-1732129200-1732134600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Daily Rituals for Inner Peace 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/kadampa-meditation-series-20-november-24/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Daily-Rituals-for-Inner-Peace-Class.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241122T113000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241122T153000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240815T010540Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T191545Z UID:58347-1732275000-1732289400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Golf Day Fundraiser | Join Us at Snake Valley Golf Club 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/golf-day-2024/ LOCATION:Snake Valley Golf Club\, 341 Chepstowe Road\, Snake Valley\, Victoria\, 3351\, Australia CATEGORIES:Fundraiser,Important Dates,Members ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/golf-day-square-promo-FINAL.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241122T200000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241122T220000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240910T030313Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211629Z UID:58645-1732305600-1732312800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Get Rhythm: The Johnny Cash & June Carter Show | THIS EVENT HAS NOW BEEN CANCELLED 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/johnny-cash-june-carter-show/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/johnny-cash-square-promo.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241123T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241123T203000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20241006T223241Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211621Z UID:59334-1732390200-1732393800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 3 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/minervas-secrets-night-tours-nov-23/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Fundraiser,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_908662326866361-e1708918930337.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241123T213000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241123T223000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20241006T223455Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211619Z UID:59336-1732397400-1732401000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Minerva's Secrets | Night Tour 4 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/minervas-secrets-night-tours-nov-23-2/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Fundraiser,Night Tours,Tours ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/received_265285705882698-e1708919200874.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241127T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241127T183000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240924T031552Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T211055Z UID:58976-1732728600-1732732200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Twilight Talks 2024\, Season 4 | Uncovering the Past: Johnny Alloo... of Ballarat Notoriety 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/twilight-talks-uncovering-the-past-4/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Author Talk,Festival,Fundraiser,Important Dates,Library,Members,Talk,Twilight Talks ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/square-promo-john-smyth.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241127T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241127T203000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240815T032149Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T032253Z UID:58395-1732734000-1732739400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Daily Rituals for Inner Peace 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/kadampa-meditation-series-27-november-24/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Daily-Rituals-for-Inner-Peace-Class.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241130T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241201T140000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240827T045027Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250325T012154Z UID:58515-1732960800-1733061600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Summer Book Sale | Stockpile for the holidays 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/summer-book-sale-2024/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:BMI Produced Event,Culture,Fundraiser,Library,Members ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/book-sale-square-promo.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241204T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241204T203000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240815T032259Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T032446Z UID:58397-1733338800-1733344200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Daily Rituals for Inner Peace 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/kadampa-meditation-series-4-december-24/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Daily-Rituals-for-Inner-Peace-Class.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241205T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241212T223000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240121T233015Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240520T015210Z UID:50320-1733419800-1734042600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Chess Club 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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-chess-club-dec-24/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Chess Club ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ballarat-chess-club-square-with-boarder.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241211T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241211T203000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20240815T032420Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240815T032555Z UID:58398-1733943600-1733949000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Kadampa Meditation Series | Daily Rituals for Inner Peace 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/kadampa-meditation-series-11-december-24/ LOCATION:Lending Library\, Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, Victoria\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:kadampa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Daily-Rituals-for-Inner-Peace-Class.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241211T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241211T211500 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20241111T035654Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T192738Z UID:59851-1733943600-1733951700@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Medieval to Metal Rockumentary Film Series: 'Don't Look Back' 1967 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/dont-look-back-1967/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Art Gallery of Ballarat,BMI Produced Event,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/humanitix-dob-e1731297748218.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241212T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241212T223000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202358 CREATED:20241126T013229Z LAST-MODIFIED:20241126T030544Z UID:60175-1734024600-1734042600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Chess Club 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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-chess-club-dec-24-12-dec/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Chess Club ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ballarat-chess-club-square-with-boarder.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241212T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241212T210000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20240130T012706Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250325T121224Z UID:50650-1734031800-1734037200@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Film Society | Smiley 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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-smiley/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Film Society,Externally Produced Event,Film ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/smiley-2-e1706578579617.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241214T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241214T160000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241204T221030Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T151210Z UID:60511-1734168600-1734192000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Vintage Christmas Festival at 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/vintage-christmas/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Christmas,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-square-promo-v6.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241215T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241215T160000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241205T032559Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T151204Z UID:60546-1734255000-1734278400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Vintage Christmas Festival at 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/vintage-christmas-15/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Christmas,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-square-promo-v6.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241219T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241219T150000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241205T032921Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T151201Z UID:60549-1734602400-1734620400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Vintage Christmas Festival at 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/vintage-christmas-19/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Christmas,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-square-promo-v6.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241220T100000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241220T160000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241205T040517Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T151158Z UID:60566-1734688800-1734710400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Vintage Christmas Festival at 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/vintage-christmas-20/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Christmas,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-square-promo-v6.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241221T093000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20241221T160000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241205T040653Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T151154Z UID:60568-1734773400-1734796800@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Vintage Christmas Festival at 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/vintage-christmas-21/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Christmas,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/image-square-promo-v6.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250115T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250115T204500 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241113T003024Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T192558Z UID:59922-1736967600-1736973900@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Medieval to Metal Rockumentary Film Series: 'This is Spinal Tap' 1984 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/this-is-spinal-tap-1984/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Art Gallery of Ballarat,BMI Produced Event,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/spinal-tap-square.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250116T173000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250626T223000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20250107T014921Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250313T030852Z UID:60938-1737048600-1750977000@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:Ballarat Chess Club 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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-chess-club-2025/ LOCATION:BMI – Humffray Room\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Ballarat Chess Club ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ballarat-chess-club-square-with-boarder.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250122T190000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250122T204000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20241113T005429Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T192735Z UID:59934-1737572400-1737578400@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:'Gimme Shelter' 1970 | THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO TECH ISSUES 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/gimme-shelter-1970/ LOCATION:BMI – Minerva Space\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350 CATEGORIES:Art Gallery of Ballarat,BMI Produced Event,Film,Important Dates ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/mich-jagger-square.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250124T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20250124T230000 DTSTAMP:20260618T202359 CREATED:20250110T013352Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250321T163216Z UID:61048-1737747000-1737759600@ballaratmi.org.au SUMMARY:HIP HOP ELEMENTS 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 World Refugee Day\n World Refugee Day Each year\, 20 June marks World Refugee... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n BMI Collection Events\n Events staged in conjunction with our Heritage Collection will be... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Rosemary’s Book of the Week | Where Truth Ends by Mark Smith\n Where Truth Ends Mark Smith Don’t miss Mark who will... \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n From the Curator | Arresting the Ephemeral\n The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact... \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/hip-hop-elements-bmi/ LOCATION:The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute\, 117-119 Sturt Street\, Ballarat Central\, VIC\, 3350\, Australia CATEGORIES:Live Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://ballaratmi.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/sqaure-promo-hip-hop.webp END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR