St Arnaud’s Dunstan Library will once again house a photograph of its namesake, Thomas Campbell Dunstan, after a search by his son unearthed the portrait that had been missing for nearly 20 years.

The Dunstan Library was named for Mr Dunstan and his wife Enid, née Montague, in recognition of their longstanding support of the St Arnaud Mechanics’ Institute and Library.

A photograph of Mr Dunstan hung in the former library in Market Square before being taken down in 2006 during construction of the current library.

Northern Grampians Shire Council Mayor Karen Hyslop said when the portrait subsequently went missing, Mr Dunstan’s son William ‘John’ Dunstan embarked on a quest to find it.

“John has been on a mission to track it down and bring both the photo and the story behind it back to the Dunstan Library,” she said.

“John first started searching seriously three or four years ago, bringing it up with St Arnaud librarian Belinda Huggins and council customer service.

“In this time, we have had a few maintenance men for the St Arnaud building – all who searched fruitlessly.”

Cr Hyslop said the younger Dunstan’s search unearthed a plaque about a year ago, but without the accompanying photo.

“Belinda recently organised for the current maintenance man, Josh, to meet with John and members of St Arnaud Historical Society to identify and sort a room full of ephemera upstairs in the town hall,” she said.

“It turned out the photo was the first thing they saw as they walked into the room.”

The plaque that accompanies the photo reads: “This library was named after Thomas Campbell Dunstan who served 21 years as a Kara Kara Shire Councillor, three terms as Shire President, and played an active role in the former Mechanics Institute Library Committee.”

Cr Hyslop said John Dunstan recalled his parents as excellent readers and supporters of the mechanics’ institute, which included a public library, reading room and meeting place.

“John said his parents would travel to other towns and swap books so that St Arnaud always had an interesting and varied collection,” she said.

The current Dunstan Library has about 7000 items for loan and welcomes about 1000 visitors a month.

“Our library team receives comments from locals and travellers alike about how lucky we are to have such a beautiful and welcoming facility that caters for so many activities,” Cr Hyslop said.

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