When Jill is not writing, or teaching writing she
can often be found at the beautiful, historic
Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute where she is a board
member, editor of the Institute’s journal, and the
co-ordinator of the very popular lecture series,
Twilight Talks.
In 2007, Jill and co-editor Rex Bridges decided to incorporate excerpts from the original Ballarat Punch with twenty first century articles written by members and friends of the Institute.
In 2007, Jill and co-editor Rex Bridges decided to incorporate excerpts from the original Ballarat Punch with twenty first century articles written by members and friends of the Institute.
Jill and Rex plan to make
Ballarat Punch at the Mechanics
an annual affair and invite readers and writers to
select articles from the
Ballarat Punch,
available on CDrom at the Ballarat Mechanics’
Institute library, and match them with comments
from the twenty first century for future editions.
Ballarat Punch at the Mechanics can be purchased from the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute library either directly or via their website at www.library.org.au or from Ballarat Books www.ballaratbooks.com.au
Ballarat Punch at the Mechanics can be purchased from the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute library either directly or via their website at www.library.org.au or from Ballarat Books www.ballaratbooks.com.au
Ballarat Punch was published weekly for just under
three years in the 1860s. It provides an excellent,
if satirical, commentary on life in Ballarat at the
time. Remarkably many of the issues which concerned
the people of the city then are still pertinent
today such as the water supply, the lake and the
state of our roads. Jill and Rex decided,
therefore, to blend the old with the new in a
journal called
Ballarat Punch at the Mechanics
and to include explanations about the origin of the
Punch concept and its adaptation to colonial life.