28/05/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Red Gifts in the Garden of Stones by Pam Swanborough Suspiciously long-lived matriarch Lizzie Coombe expects her one hundredth birthday to be memorable, But what comes after will never be forgotten by anyone in this close-knit Welsh community. Lizzie and her daughter Myfanway only remember old love from long dead sweethearts, granddaughter Sarah Maud is…
04/06/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Original Twin by Paula Gleeson Two sisters May and June couldn’t be more different. May is quiet, self-conscious withdrawn; June is boisterous, beautiful, magnetic...and missing. It’s been a year since June disappeared, a year of May waiting for her to turn up with an explanation of where she’s been and why she left. But with…
12/07/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 The Homestead in the Eucalypts Léonie Kelsall. Sometimes finding the way forward means retracing your past. When student doctor Taylor Lawrence's city life is turned upside down, she seeks sanctuary on her grandparents' farm in the South Australian countryside. During the lonely nights, she fantasises of a time long-gone; of Anna, who, rising at dawn…
16/07/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Humffray Room Edenhope Louise Le Nay. 'A moving story about one woman’s unconditional love, the kindness of strangers, and what’s right as well as what’s wrong with the way we live now.’ Amanda Lohrey, Miles Franklin Award-winning author of 'The Labyrinth' Marnie is sixty-three and downwardly mobile. Her middle-class marriage is long gone, her only…
29/07/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Humffray Room Leah Kaminsky Leah is a physician and award-winning writer. Her debut novel, The Waiting Room, won the Voss Literary Prize. The Hollow Bones won both the Literary Fiction and Historical Fiction categories of the 2019 International Book Awards, and the 2019 American Book Fest’s Best Book Award for Literary Fiction. She is the…
08/08/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 The Creeper by Margaret Hickey. The chilling new mystery novel from the award-winning author of bestsellers Cutters End, Stone Town and Broken Bay. Victim ... or killer? For the last decade, the small mountain town of Edenville in Victoria’s high country has been haunted by the horrific murders of five hikers up on Jagged Ridge. Also found dead near…
20/08/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 The Ghost of Briar Rose Anna Romer Everyone says the old mountainside house is haunted. Which is perfect because ghost hunter Cleary Branchwood knows it’s easy money. He’ll buy the propertydirt cheap, flush out the poor wretch of a ghost they call Briar Rose, and resell for an unthinkable sum to investors from Melbourne. Simple,…
04/09/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 17 Years Later: Who really killed the Primrose family by J.P. Pomare. The unputdownable new bestseller by multi-award-winning author J. P. Pomare. Who killed the wealthy Primrose family? The violent slaughter of the Primrose family while they slept shocked the nation. Their young live-in chef, Bill Kareama, was swiftly charged with murder and brought to…
19/09/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Heritage Reading Room From the Top T.L.W. Robb. From Ballarat to Baghdad - an extraordinary life. Traveller - Outlaw - Producer. A moving and inspiring memoir of a young man and his journey from Ballarat, Australia, to the international stage where he and his partner Luis Moreno, produced showstopping Moulin Rouge and Las Vegas style…
02/10/2024 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm $10 Also a part of the VICTORIAN SENIORS FESTIVAL | The Fallen Woman Fiona McIntosh. The heart-stopping new historical adventure from the bestselling author of The Sugar Palace
21/10/2024 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm $10 Humffray Room The Valley Chris Hammer. The sins of the father | The love of a daughter | The secrets that divide them. The international bestselling author of: Scrublands & The Seven The latest stunning thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands and The Seven. Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic are back – and Nell is thrown…
26/10/2024 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm Free Humffray Room Squat John Safran. An unmissable opportunity to hear John Safran recount his time squatting in a celebrity’s abandoned mansion. Enquiries: Any event specific enquires should be direct to Collins Booksellers on Lydiard Free. Bookings Collins Booksellers, Ballart on Lydiard This event takes place on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People…
Minerva's Secrets Night Tours
Tue 19 May with special visit to Lantern Vaults
Tour 1 at 7pm – Tour 2 at 9pm.
Remembrance Day:
A Surgeon Commander & A Leading Cook - Recent War Memoribilia
Wed 29 Oct & 5 Nov, 5.30pm.
Calling for Pre-loved books
These donation assist in our Library Fundraising Activities
We can take delivery during regular Library operating hours. See website footer.
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
Pre-Sale $60 from 6 Aug to 9 Aug - $65 thereafter
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
