Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute Image Collection

The BMI Image Collection is being gradually added to our website. If you are seeking specific images, many are cataloged with Victorian Collections. 

If you would like to purchase a high resolution digital image or request a printed image please complete the image request form.

Note: If you have information, provenance or stories associated with these images, then we would love to hear from you, they will be considered for additional image documentation and recognition. Please use the contact form at the bottom of the page and reference the image category number.

Image Collection News

We have a limited number of collection images shown below.

Arthur Leckie

Arthur Leckie was born in Sebastopol on 16 August 1876. In 1878 the family moved into their newly built home, ‘Blythewood Grange’, in Sebastopol. Arthur attended Grenville College and commenced Ballarat College in 1893. He was Apprentice as an Ironmonger at ‘The Present Day Ironmonger’ in Bridge Street. He next worked for William Dawson, Ironmonger, in Sturt Street, next to old The Courier Office.

After the death of his father in 1893 the family moved out of ‘Blythewood Grange’ into Ballarat. Arthur and his brothers Robert and Harold built their own automobile in the sheds behind their house, commencing in 1899 and having it ‘on the road’ in 1901.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (L 00).

L O2 | James Leckie Junior (probably) c1886

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (L 00).

L O4 | Lorne Bridge c1900

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (L 00).

L O5 | Lorne Stage Coach c1900

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (L 00).

L 34 | 1901, Car built by Arthur, Rob and Harold Leckie in Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (L 00).

L 35 | Notes on Arthur Leckie's car

Herb Richmond 

The Herbert Richmond collection was gifted in 1982 to the Ballarat Library. The collection contains approximately 200 photographs of Ballarat and district in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, as well as photo albums, glass negatives and other memorabilia.

Herb Richmond was a keen photographer, a foundation member and a life member of the Ballarat Camera Club, and a photographer with the Ballarat Courier during the 1940s. The Ballarat Camera Club named an annual award after him. Mr Richmond died in 1981 aged 79.

These images were digitally re-photographed by members of the Ballarat Camera Club in September 2006.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 19A | Minerva top of the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR O33 | Unknown Building Ballarat, Front View

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR O37 | Old Brewery, Buninyong

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR O41 | Cast Iron Gate late Whites Foundry, Dana Street, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR O42 | Dana Street School, view from Doveton Street c1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 045 | Ballarat Fire Station Barkly St. ca 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 046 | Old Ballarat East Library Hist. Society Museum. View SE. ca 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 047 | Ballarat Lydiard St Sth view SW c 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 049 | Craigs Hotel, Lydiard St Sth, Ballarat ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 050 | Craigs Hotel and HBA House old Union Bank Lydiard St Sth Ballarat ca 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 051 | Banks - NW cnr Lydiard and Sturt sts, Ballarat ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 052 | Ballarat St Patrick's Cathedral - cnr Dawson & Sturt sts ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 053 | Ballarat St Patrick's Cathedral - cnr Dawson & Sturt sts ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 054 | Ballarat St Patrick's Cathedral - cnr Dawson & Sturt sts ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 056 | Ballarat Town Hall & Boer War statue - Sturt St ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 057 | Street scene, Lydiard St, Ballarat ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 058 | Ballarat Chancery House, Lydiard St ca 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 059 | Ballarat Town Hall & Boer War statue - Sturt St ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 060 | Ballarat Town Hall Queen Victoria statue ca 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 061 | Ballarat Town Hall & Queen Victoria statue ca 1971,

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 065 | Photograph by Herb Richmond. ca 1971 Ballarat Town Hall Boer War statue Sturt St.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

HR 081 | George Hotel, Ballarat, c. 1971

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (HR 00).

Max Harris 

Max was a former cameraman at Studio Cameraman/Audio Operator in the Film Department at BTV Channel 6, Ballarat. He was in the RAAF where he studied photography for 6 years.

The Max Harris Photography Collection was compiled by collector and photographer Max Harris over forty years from various sources, including public, private, and his own images. Any knowledge regarding additional information about these images can be made via the contact form at the bottom  of the page (quoting the MH reference number) and much appreciated.

The images that have been catalogued and uploaded here are from the digital files in the collection.

This extensive collection of images was purchased by the Haymes family (David and Jenny) and was donated by them to the BMI to care for this valuable Ballarat asset.

Ballarat and surrounds

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 11 | Town Hall Armstrong Street, South Looking South

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 12 | Looking West From Thall 1871

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 14 | Town Hall Tower Looking North

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 59 | Withers’ Char-à-banc outside the Union Hotel on Sturt Street, circa 1913.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-10 | Airport Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-14 | AMP Building Lydiard Street, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-20 | Arch of Victory & Sea Scouts, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-68 | Bridge Across Creek | Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute Max Harris Digital Collection

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-121 | Children outside George Farmers, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-169 | Commonwealth Bank in the process of demolition

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 60-171 | New’ Commonwealth Bank building under construction, circa 1966.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 74 | Ballarat's First Hospital Ambulance, Model T Ford, used WWI

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 81 | Cabs at Ballarat Railway Station, Lydiard Street, North Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 82 | Front of Benevolent Hospital Ascot St Sth Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 83 | MacRobertson's Old Gold Chocolates

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 88 | Train Crash Bungaree

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 89 | Ballarat Jam Co. & Staff

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 90 | Premises A Palmer Newsagents & Mixed Business

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 92 | Chaff Cutting

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 101 | Panorama, Sturt Street Showing Town Hall & Shop Square

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 102 | Panorama, Queen Victoria Square & Town Hall

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 114 | Lake Wendouree Showing Boat Houses, Power House Corner

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 120 | Bush Surgery

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 123 | Trembath & Sons. Carriage Manufacturers

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 125 | No. 9 Band & Albion Battery

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 126 | The first Train to pass over the Moorabool Viaduct, 1962

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 130 | Unveiling of the Boer War Statue, Sturt Street, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 133 | Woah Hawp Cnaton Mine

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 142 | Life Savers and Jetty at Front Beach, Queenscliff

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 147 | Ballarat Steam Laundry

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 149 | Bunniyong Gardens

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 170 | Looking down Sturt Street north side from near Post Office

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 176 | Melbourne Exhibition Buildings

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 183 | Black Hill Mine

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 189 | Front of Red Shop Tea Rooms, Sturt Street, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 201 | Sturt From Lydiard

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 205 | Sturt Street, North Side Looking Toward Town Hall

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 206 | Looking up Sturt Street from Grenville Street, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 211 | Shoppee square, Sturt Street, summer canopies Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 221 | Town Hall & Cabbies Sturt Street

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

grandstand at burrumbeet races
MH 227 | Grandstand at Burrumbeet Races New Years Day

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 241 | Train decorated for the Empire | Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute Max Harris Image Collection

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 256 | Truck Robur Tea Demonstration

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 261 | Caretakers House, Botanical Gardens, Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 278 | The London Chartered Bank building, undated.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MH 00).

MH 296 | Sailing Ship

Marilyn Stewart

Donated by Marilyn Stewart, her father was Jack Conder, owner of the well known Sturt St candy store known as ‘Conder’s.’ Jack started the business in 1941 when he was only 25, and ran it into the mid 80s with his wife Joyce at the counter beside him.

Marilyn remembers the delicious banana spilts that would come with three scoops of icecream and plentiful whipped cream and toppings like syrups and nuts, with wafers to complete the dish. Conder’s was a popular meeting place to visit before and after the dances and movies, and would often be full of people.

Along with candy and chocolates, the shop also sold sandwiches, pies and pasties, along with cigarettes, papers, & bread from the bakery on weekend.
Jack also had the first Espresso coffee machine in Ballarat! He was always up with the latest trends in the shop but also with cars. Marilyn recalls his love of American cars, with the big fins, and he had many over the years. It would have been a familiar sight seeing him drive down Sturt St with his chevrolet or latest stylish model.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MS 00).

MS 01 | Conder's Building with ice cream signage

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MS 00).

MS 02 | Conder's Sturt Street

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MS 00).

MS 04 | Jack Conder with the first espresso machine in Ballarat

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MS 00).

MS 07 | Joyce Conder

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (MS 00).

MS 18 | Conder's milk bar shop window

Norma Sterritt 

Norma Lillian Henshall nee Sterritt biography (by son in law Rod Sharp) (Victorian Collections)

Norma was born on the 14th November 1912.

She was a forward and independent child and always did what others would not consider appropriate at that time and you could say she was a hit of a rebel.
Norma worked in Fairweather’s in Pleasant Street and while she was there was taught to drive.
She later drove Fairweather’s Taxi being one of the first ladies to do so in Ballarat.

Norma put her age up from 17 to 18 so she could get her license earlier and purchased an Austin 7 red sports car complete with a fishtail back.

Norma taught herself the fundamentals of developing photographs and in 1938 rode her man’s bicycle around Ballarat taking photographs of the various businesses decorated to celebrate the centenary of Ballarat.

During the Second World War with her husband serving overseas in the Middle East Norma enlisted in the Army and served from 1942 through until 1945 as an Ambulance driver in the 3rd Ambulance and was stationed at Camp Pell which was located adjacent to the Melbourne Zoo. Norma transported wounded servicemen to the various hospitals around Melbourne.

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

RS 07 | Begonia Festival, 1954

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

RS 19 | Ballarat Centenary, 1938

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

RS 24 | Ballarat Centenary, 1938

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

RS 38 | Norma with Army Ambulance, WWII

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

RS 111 | Ladies Pipe Band, Labor Day, 1954

Percy Hartmann 

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

JG 01 | Sunway's House, Ballarat, 1939

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

JG 02 | Eureka Stockade, Ballarat

Unknown origin

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

MW 01 | Inaugural Meeting of St Patricks, Ballarat Old Collegians

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

PB 07 | Brogden Bakery Cart with Stanley Harris

To order a digital or printed copy note the catelogue number below (RS 00).

SD 01 | George Farmer Factory, Eureka Street, Ballarat East

Image SD 01 – The back of this photograph notes: Uncle Tom Duke and Uncle Jack Duke among this group. They worked at George Farmers before Tom worked at the S.E.C depot in Wendouree and Jack joined the Police Force.

BMI Image Collection - Comments, your memories, questions or provenance that relate to any of these images

Views: 1,215
Christmas Holiday Closures | Library

Monday 23 December – Sunday 5 January

Devonshire Tea & Fashion Parade

Bubbly on arrival & Featuring quality items from our Vintage Shop | $60

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 2025 Calendar

Featuring the BMI Image Collection | $40

Tax Deductible 

Your gift will be tax-deductible this financial year if you make it before June 30.

We need
your help.

2024 End of Financial Year Appeal 

Or alternatively go to our Donations web page.

Our Challenge

Like many organisations the BMI faces significant funding challenges. 

We thank you for your support.

BMI Fundraiser

Featuring:
The Hideaways,
The Harmonies &
Surf Shadows. 

2 course dinner & lots
of dancing