May 4 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Humffray Room The Deepest Thing: A Poetic Memoir E A Gleeson. An Afternoon of folk music and poetry. The Deepest Thing: A Poetic Memoir | E A Gleeson The poetic memoir portrays the beauty and harshness of my sister Denise’s life. The poems depict the reality of […]
E A Gleeson, Book Launch – The Deepest Thing: A Poetic Memoir Read More »
May 7 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The House of Kwa Mimi Kwa. The dragon circles and swoops … a tiger running alone in the night … Mimi Kwa ignored the letter for days. When she finally opened it, the news was so shocking her hair turned grey. Why
In Conversation with Mimi Kwa Read More »
April 9 @ 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
In Conversation with Ali Lowe & Vanessa McCausland Read More »
May 28 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets The Limestone Road Nicole Alexander. The Only Way Forward is through the Past… A Modern Australian Classic – Christine Wells. Known for her captivating depictions of historical rural Australian life, bestselling author Nicole Alexander returns with her twelfth novel, The Limestone Road
In Conversation with Nicole Alexander Read More »
June 4 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets In The Margins Gail Holmes. Vivid, wise and moving – Suzanne Leal. A Sheer Delight – Sally Colin-James. Gail Holmes | Photo Kristian Gehradte In The Margins is an extraordinary debut. A chronicle of a woman who lived and wrote in the
In Conversation with Gail Holmes Read More »
May 14 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets Burning Mountain Darcy Tindale. Five friends went up – Four came down. ‘Dark, wild and cracking with tension, Burning Mountain leaves other outback noir titles in the red dust.’ – Jack Heath Detective Rebecca Giles returns in Darcy Tindale’s highly anticipated sequel,
In Conversation with Darcy Tindale Read More »
April 1 @ 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.’
In Conversation with Mark Smith Read More »
April 29 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm $11.78 Humffray Room Get Tickets Vanish Shelley Burr. Some Stay. Some Leave. Some Disappear… Author, Shelley Burr | Photo: Yen Eriksen Media People go to the isolated Karpathy farm looking for a new life… and are never seen again. A chilling thriller from the award-winning and bestselling
In Conversation with Shelley Burr Read More »
March 24 @ 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
In Conversation with Charlotte McConaghy Read More »
February 25 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm $10 Humffray Room Get Tickets Outrageous Fortunes Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex Megan & Lucy will be hosted in conversation by Dr. Meg Tasker The Adventures of Mary Fortune, Crime-writer, and Her Criminal Son ‘Engrossingly illuminating and ultimately deeply moving’ – John Connolly ‘Mary Fortune’s bold fictions
In Conversation with Megan Brown & Lucy Sussex Read More »
Minerva's Secrets Night Tours
Night Tours
Fri 31 Oct – Sat 15 Nov
& Fri 12 Dec
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
