Visitors to New South Wales and Queensland often wonder at the name ‘School of Arts’ above the entrance of a modest, but still imposing hall in a quiet country town. “Why the demand for classes in the arts?”, they ask themselves. Similarly travellers in Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia, seeing the name ‘Mechanics’ Institute’, wonder why there is no service station in sight, and why mechanics would need an institute in a town where the only other buildings are a general store and hotel. Even if they asked the locals, many would not know the original function of the building. The names are synonymous, and refer to an intriguing institution which played an important role in the life of early Australian communities.