Martin Lewis: Money Matters

Yet Another Dunstable

10,000 Miles Away

I’ve lived in Dunstable for well over 80 years and during that time have witnessed its growth from a small country town to somewhere which must have quadrupled its population (including Houghton Regis) to well over 50000 and, in consequence, has quadrupled (at least) its area. And it’s still growing - there’s a new town emerging on our northern edges beyond Houghton Regis. The area is now completely unrecognisable from when I was a boy. It’s called progress, I suppose. But, sometimes, I wonder if its future is to become a concrete jungle without many green spaces (that’s the trouble with being an old fart). I’ve discovered that, although there is only one Dunstable in England, there are other Dunstables around the world. For example, there’s one in Massachusetts, America and another in the wilds of Alberta, Canada. Both of these have been the subjects of previous articles and in the last one dealing with the Alberta Dunstable, I said that there was uncertainty as to why it was called Dunstable. But Elisabeth Pynn has come to my rescue and tells me that the name was, indeed, pulled from a hat and that the son of a former Mayor, Robert Hambling, was the instigator. Robert (born 1859) had emigrated with his wife, Fanny Button and their five children, to the Lac la Nonne area of Alberta in 1906 and had built their own home as a settlement of five farms. Each emigrant had come from England and, in order to give their settlement a name, had each put the name of their home town into a hat and, hey presto, Dunstable was pulled out. Sadly Fanny died c.1914 but Robert lived until 1930 and was buried there as were his children Edith (1980), Robert (1952), Nora (1917), William (1942) and Eric (1970).

But there’s yet another Dunstable, this time in Queensland, Australia. It, again, is in the middle of nowhere and is described as a “homestead” - which could mean something like one bloke and his dog - in the Central Highlands region about 20 miles from the nearest village of any size, Springsure (population approx 1000), and roughly 500 miles north west of Brisbane. It’s virtually impossible to find any information on the internet regarding Dunstable per se and its only claim to fame seems to be geological. There is a rock formation from Devonian times called the Dunstable Volcanics which gives black basaltic soil. For further information, I am particularly indebted to David Readett - who lives in Queensland - and who has provided me with other snippets the likes of which I would have been unable to find by myself. David is the son of Graham, an Australian with whom I worked back in the Dark Ages (1950s) and with whom I am still in contact. This whole area of central Queensland was originally aborigine country, and when the first Europeans moved in and took over the land during the 1840s, there was considerable hostility and a number of skirmishes - especially