Toolern Vale by Paul Couch
Toolern Vale, northwest of Melbourne: the bushland here is grey and green, washed out like an old photograph. Its trees are ancient, gnarled and papered with flaking bark. Where the ground litter thins, lichen-covered rocks and pools of tawny moss hold firm. Among the scraps of branch and shade, a weathered concrete wall of some 50 years finds sympathy with its setting. It has the hue of sun-bleached gum; trees make their shadow-play across its rough-cast surface. A relic, to be sure.
When Robin Boyd passed away in 1971, Paul Couch, having worked by his side for more than a decade, decided it was time
