Minto HouseMechanics’ Institutes are a product of the Industrial Revolution during the nineteenth century. As a consequence of the introduction of machinery, the working class needed more training to build, maintain and repair machinery. The first Mechanic’s Institute was established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1851 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh (pictured). Its purpose was to "address societal needs by incorporating fundamental scientific thinking and research into engineering solutions". The school was revolutionary in providing access to scientific and technological education for working class men who could not afford subscription libraries.
The Melbourne Athenaeum Library, originally called the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute and School of Arts, was established in 1839, not long after the city of Melbourne was founded. Mechanics' Institutes were cultural institutions imported from the British motherland and their expansion in Victoria during the 19th century was phenomenal. Over 1200 Mechanics' Institutes were built in Victoria but just over 500 remain today, and only six still operate their lending library services. The fledgling Australian colonies were in no sense an industrial society. The city of Melbourne had only been declared in 1835 and by 1861 the Victorian census showed only five per cent of the working population engaged in manufacturing activities. Amongst the founding members, education was considered essential to the well-being of any community. Several master builders connected with the fraternal organisation the Melbourne Union Benefit Society were invited by Alexander Sims with the intention of forming a Mechanics’ Institute for ‘the promotion of science in this rising colony, particularly amongst the young, as well as the operative classes’. Captain Lonsdale was elected the first President in 1839 and the mandate became to develop Melbourne’s cultural and technological identity through "the diffusion of scientific, literary and other useful knowledge amongst its members and the community in general".
Picture credit:
2006, Minto House, University of Edinburgh, School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Edinburgh,
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