Contents: The contribution of the institutes to Australia's cultural history / Philip Candy p1. The early institutes in context / Elizabeth Webby p29. The Melbourne Mechanics' Institute [Athenaeum]: its first 30 years / Jill Eastwood p61. The advantages of mechanics' institutes: part 1 / Thomas Osborne p85. The colonial book grant and the Victorian Parliament 1857-1860 / Brian Hubber p92. The Geelong Mechanics' Institute to 1900 / Marc Askew p102. The institute movement in Western Australia / Peter Rose, Wendy Birman and Michael White p126. The education of adults in schools of arts in colonial New South Wales / Michael Whiting p160. Some aspects of the role of the institutes in technical education in New South Wales 1878-1916 / John Laurent p183. The movement's contribution to the visual arts: three New South Wales case studies / Jean Riley p210. Foundations and fortunes of the mechanics' institutes and schools of arts in New South Wales / Tessa Raath p229. The architecture of the institutes: selected examples from Queensland / Steve Kellermeier p253. Growth and decline of the Queensland schools of arts 1849-1981 / Carole Inkster p268. The Rockhampton School of Arts Library and Museum in the nineteenth century / Wayne Murdoch p283. Mechanics' institutes in Hobart and Launceston / Stefan Petrow p311. The advantages of mechanics' institutions: part 2 / John Lillie p327. Coordination of institutes in South Australia / Michael Talbot p335. The South Australian institutes after World War One / Amanda Bettesworth p357. The social significance of the institutes in retrospect / John Laurent p370..