Caption: William 'John' Dunstan with a photo of his father, Thomas, which will once again take pride of place in St Arnaud's Dunstan Library.
A special photo of Thomas Campbell Dunstan will once again take pride of place in the library that bears his name after a tireless search by his son, William 'John' Dunstan.
The Dunstan Library in St Arnaud was named after Thomas and his wife Enid, née Montague, who were strong supporters of the town's Mechanics Institute and Library.
Northern Grampians Shire mayor Karen Hyslop said the photo of Thomas hung proudly in the former library in Market Square until 2006 and was taken down during the construction of the current library.
"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 search unearthed a plaque about a year ago, but no 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 shows: "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 recalled both his parents were 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.
"We have a lot to thank them for and look forward to rehanging this wonderful portrait of Thomas."
