April 22 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Free Humffray Room Register now SHARC is heading to Ballarat We want to catch up with people with experience of alcohol, drugs or gambling challenges. Join SHARC for a relaxed and welcoming afternoon focused on the issues that matter most to you. Our purpose is twofold. We want to tell you a bit more about the…
April 22 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9 – $13 Humffray Room Get Tickets Ballarat's Avenue of Honour & A look behind names on the Avenue plaques Speakers: Amethyst May & Gary Snowden About the speakers Amethyst May Amethyst May is a student at Mount Clear College who has a passion for Australia's war history. She will present a short documentary on Ballarat's women during the…
April 22 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Free – $12 – $12 Lending Library, ground floor These classes offer simple, practical methods to improve the quality of our life and develop inner peace through meditation and Buddhist teachings. The in-person setting fosters a supportive community and offers real-time interaction with the teacher for personalized guidance. Classes include guided meditations and teachings to help us solve…
April 23 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Minerva Room French Drama/Thriller Following the disappearance of glamorous housewife Evelyne Ducat (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the lives of five people who are linked to her are brought together to devastating effect as the local police investigate the case. Only the Animals starts off as an intimate rural mystery and blossoms into a global affair where…
April 24 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm $27.50 Meet at the BMI entrance Get Tickets Explore tales of the weird and supernatural – the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute at night. Looking for a unique way to explore Ballarat’s rich history and culture? Look no further than the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute’s Night Tours! This beautiful heritage building dates back to the 1860s and boasts a…
April 24 @ 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm $27.50 Meet at the BMI entrance Get Tickets Explore tales of the weird and supernatural – the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute at night. Looking for a unique way to explore Ballarat’s rich history and culture? Look no further than the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute’s Night Tours! This beautiful heritage building dates back to the 1860s and boasts a…
April 29 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9 – $13 Humffray Room Get Tickets Dickie Larsen's Pumpkin & Other Stories Speaker: Geoff Carr, author Spike is a young boy in 1950s Australia, surrounded by sprawling landscapesand a menagerie of animals. Together with his friends Leany and Riddy, they do what all young boys in the bush do: make their own fun. From chooks in outhouses,…
April 29 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Free – $12 – $12 Lending Library, ground floor These classes offer simple, practical methods to improve the quality of our life and develop inner peace through meditation and Buddhist teachings. The in-person setting fosters a supportive community and offers real-time interaction with the teacher for personalized guidance. Classes include guided meditations and teachings to help us solve…
April 30 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets When lemons give you life Anna Johnston 'Smart, authentic and full of heart' - Graeme Simsion From the author of The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife Redemption is a dish best served warm... Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow has lost his appetite for life. Widowed, grieving and living in an aged care…
May 6 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9 – $13 Humffray Room Get Tickets What We Watched Before Cinema: ‘Entertainments’ at the Mechanics’ Hall, 1863–1919 Speaker: Ellen Becker When the Mechanics’ Hall opened in 1863, the people of Ballarat flocked to see some strange and spectacular contemporary entertainments — mesmerists, automata, waxworks, human curiosities, and the magic of the first moving image technologies. Join Curator Ellen…
May 6 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Free – $12 – $12 Lending Library, ground floor These classes offer simple, practical methods to improve the quality of our life and develop inner peace through meditation and Buddhist teachings. The in-person setting fosters a supportive community and offers real-time interaction with the teacher for personalized guidance. Classes include guided meditations and teachings to help us solve…
May 8 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm $48.79 Minerva Space Get Tickets An epic burlesque fantasy parody where Middle-earth is reimagined through glitter, glamour, and glorious mischief. One Tease to Rule Them All is a theatrical burlesque revue inspired by legendary fantasy worlds and the archetypes we know and love, hobbits, heroes, wizards, warriors, and shadowy foes. Nine incredible performers gather to bring…
Minerva's Secrets Night Tours
Tue 19 May with special visit to Lantern Vaults
Tour 1 at 7pm – Tour 2 at 9pm.
Linen & Lace Exhbition
Includes Devonshire Tea | $20
Sat & Sun 22, 23 Oct
10am-4pm
Remembrance Day:
A Surgeon Commander & A Leading Cook - Recent War Memoribilia
Wed 29 Oct & 5 Nov, 5.30pm.
Coming soon…
Rozzi Bazzani. Stella Day Out: Katia Ariel & Samah Sabawi, Rachael Johns
Coming soon…
Dianne Dempsey, Chrissie Bellbrae, Paula Gleeson, Rozzi Bazzani.
Coming in November…
Stella Day Out, Ballarat, Rachael Johns & Margaret Hickey
Australian Heritage Festival
Minerva's Secrets
25 April – Tour 1 at 7.30pm – fully booked
Tour 2 at 9.30pm – still tickets.
Spring Season, History Talks:
Ballarat's Henry Lawson - The Dragon's Den - Gold! Gold! Gold!
Wed 3, 17 & 24 September, 5.30pm.
Bubbly on arrival & Featuring quality items from our Vintage Shop | $60
The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 2026 Calendar
Featuring illustrations from our Heritage Book Collection $40
Your gift will be tax-deductible this financial year if you make it before June 30.
Like many organisations the BMI faces significant funding challenges.
2 course dinner & lots
of dancing
