reading

book cover and author

In Conversation with T.L.W. Robb | From The Top: From Ballarat to Baghdad

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…

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In Conversation with Louise Le Nay

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

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portraits of both authors with book covers

In Conversation with Leah Kaminsky & Jacinta Halloran

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

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In Conversation with Léonie Kelsall

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

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In Conversation with Anna Romer

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,

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In Conversation with J.P. Pomare

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

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In Conversation with Margaret Hickey

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

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In Conversation with Pam Swanborough

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

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Fundraiser for Ballarat RSL & BMI

$33 per person

Minerva's Secrets Night Tours

Tue 19 May with special visit to Lantern Vaults

Tour 1 at 7pm – Tour 2 at 9pm. 

BMI Fundraising Events book donation promotional image

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.

Spring Season, History Talks:

Ballarat's Henry Lawson - The Dragon's Den - Gold! Gold! Gold!

Wed 3, 17 & 24 September, 5.30pm

Christmas Holiday Closures | Library

Monday 23 December – Sunday 5 January

Vintage Fashion Parade

Bubbly on arrival featuring quality items from our Vintage Shop

Sunday 6 September at 2pm - Cost $65

The Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute 2026 Calendar

Featuring illustrations from our Heritage Book 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.