This is what happens to old piles of bark in the bushland that have been lying on the ground for a year of more: 

The colours  fade, the bark slowly breaks up, then it starts to crumble.  

I came across the above  pile when I returned to walking in the bushland with Maya  after a long break over the summer.  I was  introducing Maya to the bushland. I recognised the pile  from a year ago. 

 An old pile of bark  is such a contrast to the fresh  piles of bark in the local Waitpinga bushland in the early Autumn of 2022.

On this occasion I  was attracted by both the texture of the bark and the early morning light  falling across the bark. The shape of the  bark pile would become different  in a week from the winds  and the colours will slowly  begin fade as the bark  decays.