The Toolangi Forest Discovery Centre (TFDC) is a forest education hub in Toolangi, Victoria, Australia. It was opened by the Victorian Minister for Natural Resources, Geoff Coleman, on 14 February 1994 but its origins can be traced back many decades earlier. History During the late 1960s the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) started to deliver public information and schools’ education. Recreation on State forest received greater focus and a key moment for the commission, then under the new chairmanship of Dr Frank Moulds, was the creation of the Forest Environment and Recreation (FEAR) Branch in 1970. This was accompanied with the appointment of some specialist ranger and planning positions in the field. During the 1970s, local FCV district staff were encouraged to bring school groups into the bush and organise other ad hoc tours. Toolangi developed into an innovative forest education hub under the enthusiastic direction of Rod Incoll, the District Forester. By the early 1980s, Rod Incoll had convinced the Forests Commission that a modern office and depot complex was needed at Toolangi. The new building included, in-part, the FCV's first purpose-built community education centre. After the election of the Cain Labor Government in 1982, and the release of the ground breaking Timber Industry Strategy (TIS) later in 1986, the idea of a dedicated forest education centre began to take hold. In 1990, an education project to produce school curriculum materials was formalised. The group had strong representation from the Victorian Education Department and school teachers. The materials were deliberately designed to challenge students to think about the complexities, controversies and contradictions of forest and bushfire management, endangered species conservation, timber harvesting and timber sustainability, ecotourism and forest ecosystems. Meanwhile, several sites for a new education centre were considered including Barmah, Marysville, Macedon, Toolangi, the Dandenong Ranges and the Grampians. There were some concerns expressed about the TFDC location on the Healesville-Kinglake Road as being “off the beaten track”, and therefore generating limited passing traffic. However, the site had other big advantages of being within two hours of Melbourne schools and sited in an active “working forest” with a rich harvesting and sawmilling history. Toolangi also had proven credentials as being able to deliver education programs. The Building The Toolangi Forest Discovery Centre was designed by departmental architect Peter Pass to match its surroundings using many local timbers. It was deliberately nestled into the messmate bush near the Department of