The Institute is a major community-owned cultural organisation....
A Brief History
The Institute was established in 1859 in the top floor of the Ballarat Fire Brigade in Barkly Street. On the 28th September, 1860 a doundation stone was laid at the rear of the present building.
According to the Ballarat Star a crowd of 10,000 people attended the ceremony. By 1869 the Institute consisted of four floors, shops on the ground floor, a grand entrance with a library on the second floor and a museum on the top floor.
The lending Library is open to all members of the public for subscription.
The Dog Who Came In From the Cold by Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith is one of those men with whom I'd love to sit down to dinner. Clearly he's an articulate (at least in prose) raconteur; a cultured, well-educated man with a keen eye for the vagaries and foibles of human nature. More.....
The Man Who Left Too Soon - The Biography of Stieg Larssen by Barry Foreshaw
Since he died in 2004 the author of the Millennium trilogy has received international fame with dizzying speed. But when one looks a little deeper at the man behind these phenomenal novels, it is clear that his life would be remembered as truly extraordinary even had his trilogy never been published. More.......
In the Name of Honor, Richard North Patterson
Those familiar with Patterson’s works know they build slowly and carefully. What distinguishes this story is not only the minutiae of a court-room drama but also vivid accounts of what soldiers face in Iraq. Readers will find themselves engrossed as well as pleased by a story with a twist revealing that there’s more to this powerful yet seemingly straightforward story than first meets the eye. More..............
