LocalStories 2 - Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute

Woman smiling softly in burgundy jumper for Twilight Talks 2026

Twilight Talks: Season 2, Understanding the Language of your Body

November 25 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm $9 – $13 Humffray Room Get Tickets Create Better Health by Understanding the Language of Your Body: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science & the Microbiome Connection. Speaker: Meredith O’Loughlan The Language of your body Neurobiome Wheel Inner circle: regulatory domains Outer circle: biopatterns The Neurobiome Wheel is a simple […]

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Pressed dried flowering plant specimen with roots on paper

150 Years of Botanical Communication

By Mark

August 7 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm $15 Get Tickets Before digital databases and photography, how did we learn about the natural world? This Biodiversity Week, discover the BMI’s rare set of Ferdinand von Mueller’s Educational Collections of Victorian Plants (1874–1876). Designed to “diffuse information on the native vegetation” across Victoria, this historic herbarium

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Arresting the Ephemeral: The Beautiful Usefulness of a Victorian Herbarium

By Mark

July 24 @ 11:00 am – 12:30 pm Free Humffray Room Get Tickets The Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is custodian of the most intact surviving set of the Educational Collections of Victorian Plants (1874–1876). A herbarium and series of books compiled by the first Chief Botanist of the Colony of Victoria, Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller. This presentation

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21 HEARTS: Vivian Bullwinkel and the Nurses of the Vyner Brooke, a THEATRE 180 production

By Mark

July 11 @ 7:00 pm – 8:50 pm $38.50 – $77 Minerva Theatre Get Tickets Written by Jenny Davis A compelling true story from WWII, honouring the bravery strength, love and hope of Australian Army Nurses in the face of adversity. Directed by Stuart Halusz Featuring Caitlin Beresford-Ord, Rebecca Davis, Michelle Fornasier, Alex Jones, Tegan

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Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat – What We Watched Before Cinema: ‘Entertainments’ at the Mechanics’ Hall, 1863–1919

By Mark

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,

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Victorian era engraving of airship over town with light beam

Panic from the Sky: A Call of Cthulhu Adventure

By Mark

May 22 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm $3 – $5 Hunffray Room Get Tickets Presented by Tales from Rat City Panic from the Skies is the fourth chapter in our multi award winning Call of Cthulhu liveplay series, delivering a fresh descent into mystery, suspense, and eldritch terror. Faced with unsettling events and unimaginable

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Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat – Ballarat Avenue of Honour

By Mark

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.

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Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat – Henry Lawson in Ballarat revisited

By Mark

April 15 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm $9 – $13 Humffray Room Get Tickets Henry Lawson in Ballarat – Revisited Speaker: Hedley Thomson ‘Last November Hedley Thomson provided an entertaining and informative presentation about Henry Lawson’s 1887 visit to Ballarat to explore the Eureka Rebellion sites. This year he will return to this topic,

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Twilight Talks: Focus on Ballarat – Nostalgic memories of Stawell & Ballarat – 1950s and 1960s

By Mark

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

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The Dog Logs, A Ballarat National Theatre Production

By Mark

April 19 @ 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm $18 – $30 Minerva Space A Play by C. J. Johnson, film critic for The Nightlife Directed by Gin O’Brien The Dog Logs is a refreshing take on canine life that is touching and surprisingly human. From a tough Rottweiler with neighbour problems to a prima donna toy

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