24/03/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets Wild Dark Shore Charlotte McConaghy. New York Times Best Selling Author From the New York Times bestselling author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, a novel about a family living alone on a remote island, when a mysterious woman washes up on shore. At once a gripping mystery, an exquisitely written ode to the natural…
26/03/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets The Changing Face of the Canadian Corridor This talk will outline the impact of the goldrush and forestry on the corridor's native vegetation and waterways. Featuring the long gone Bunny Railway, mining water races, mining infrastructure, forestry and rifle ranges. And focussing on the…
26/03/2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm Free – $15 – $15 Lending Library 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 our daily…
30/03/2025 @ 2:00 pm - 5:30 pm $10 – $30 Venue - Minerva Space Ballarat Scottish Country Dancing | Warm up your dance shoes, it's going to be a gooden! The Annual Minerva Social in the Minerva Space at the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute, 117-119 Sturt St, Ballarat (at the Melbourne end of Sturt St.) from 2.00pm - 5.30pm. But get there early to hear the…
01/04/2025 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets Three Boys Gone Mark Smith. Complex and Compelling in all the right ways - Jane Harper... Mark Smith presents the ultimate moral dilemma in a breathtaking psychological thriller. Would you try to save them? 'First rule of rescue: don't create another casualty.' Grace Disher is about to face every teacher's worst…
02/04/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets Dr Hardy and the Men of St Paul's Anglican Church WWI Participants Speaker: Neil Leckie - Co-Cordinator Twilight Talks Neil Leckie is a BMI Member with many years of military service and an interest in The Great War in particular. Neil Leckie Dr Hardy…
02/04/2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm Free – $15 – $15 Lending Library These classes offer simple, practical methods to improve the quality of our life and develop inner peacethrough meditation and Buddhist teachings.The in-person setting fosters a supportive community andoffers real-time interaction with the teacher for personalized guidance.Classes include guided meditations and teachings to help us solve ourdaily problems and find the lasting…
04/04/2025 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm $5 – $12 Humffray Room Get Tickets A Ballarat National Theatre Production Friday 4 April at 7pm & Sunday 6 April at 2pm This is the Way the World Ends is a series of thematically connected short plays, songs, character monologues and interludes. The common theme, through line is that a lack of empathy, a lack of meaning,…
05/04/2025 @ 7:30 pm - 11:00 pm $29 Get Tickets Zak Plays Zach. Join us on April 5th for an unforgettable night as Zak Plays Zach brings the ultimate Zach Bryan tribute to the Mechanics Institute in Ballarat! From the heartfelt ballads to the anthems that make you want to scream every word, we’re playing all the hits—Something in the Orange, Quittin’ Time,…
06/04/2025 @ 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm $5 – $12 Humffray Room Get Tickets A Ballarat National Theatre Production Friday 4 April at 7pm & Sunday 6 April at 2pm This is the Way the World Ends is a series of thematically connected short plays, songs, character monologues and interludes. The common theme, through line is that a lack of empathy, a lack of meaning,…
09/04/2025 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm $9.73 – $13.83 Bar open at 5pm $9.73 – $13.83 Humffray Room Get tickets War Grieving from a Doctor's Perspective Grief is a natural response to loss. War Grief is complex. Ballarat’ s participation in WW1 was substantial: about 4000 men from Ballarat enlisted in World War One and approximately 800 died. How was this preserved from a…
09/04/2025 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The Private Island | The Last Illusion of Paige White Ali Lowe | Vanessa McCausland. The Private Island Ali Lowe Ali Lowe New Year's Eve, Loloma Island, Fiji. At one of the most exclusive island resorts in the Pacific ocean, the champagne is poured, the fireworks ready and the countdown to…
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
