Lantern Vaults

Lantern Vaults invites you beneath the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute for a rare, immersive journey through its hidden underground spaces. An animated narrative unfolds across the basement and vaulted rooms, guiding visitors through a layered, site-responsive story.

Step below street level and move through a sequence of vaulted rooms shaped by light, projection and sound. Guided by shifting illumination, animated imagery and voice, each space reveals a new layer of the narrative. Told through the perspective of twelve-year-old Florence Batten, daughter of the Institute’s Secretary in the early 1870s, the work draws you into lives unfolding beneath the surface of a growing city.

Original artworks by Amanda Western bring Ballarat’s goldrush era into motion through lantern sculpture and voiced narrative. Light shifts. Shadows gather. The past draws closer. Spaces rarely open to the public become the setting for this intimate, atmospheric experience.