The Melbourne Athenaeum Inc.'s 2024 Annual General Meeting will be held at 1pm, Monday 15 April, in the Melbourne Athenaeum Library.

For more information please refer to the events page or speak to a staff member.

1872Name Changed

Along with the construction of the new hall, the name of the institution was changed in 1972.

It is at this point that the institution went from being called the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute to the Melbourne Atheneaeum, although it remained the same organisation with the same purpose.

The change of name for the institution came about because there were a very large number of mechanics' institutes in Victoria at the time, and this would continue to grow for the rest of the century. Included in this number were the North Melbourne Mechanics' Institute, the South Melbourne Mechanics' Institute, and the West Melbourne Mechanics' Institute.

The name Athenaeum was chosen for aspirational reasons.

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