WIRINGGOON : New Works by Mabel Juli (aka Wiringgoon - her bush name)
Past exhibition
Mabel Juli Australian, Gija, b. c. 1933
MARRANJI
natural ochre and pigments on canvas
120 x 90 cm
838249
'This the place, you know what, that Marranji, when he 'bin go hunting, all the boys (and men) 'bin go hunting and they never killed the kangaroo. This one dog,...
"This the place, you know what, that Marranji, when he 'bin go hunting, all the boys (and men) 'bin go hunting and they never killed the kangaroo. This one dog, Marranji, 'bin fighting all the kangaroo and all the boy been take him back, they were cooking all the kangaroo. He (Marranji) 'bin go to this first one (campfire)- nothing, second one - nothing - third - nothing. They never give him no bone, they always been chuck that bone in the fire, never give him. Then he been go to that second place, and never give him nothing, starving him. He bin get up and go to another fire, this last one, he 'bin watching, nothing, nobody bin give him feed. Nothing. He 'bin walk away down the river, he bin walk away down the creek...
This lot (the boys at the camp) bin sitting for a good while now. They never think about this dog. One walgaman (man) 'bin singing out to him "Bii Bii Bii- Bii Bii they used to call him Bii Bii, that Marranji, that walgaman singing out to him "Bowow bowow" and nothing. [Then] He 'bin come out and tell them "I 'bin chasing the kangaroo for all you lot, and you never gave me nothing...
They 'bin turn into rocks now (the boys and men). That rock's still there. You can see him. That's the river. And when he (Marranji) bin come out, they been turn into rocks.... Yeah."
This lot (the boys at the camp) bin sitting for a good while now. They never think about this dog. One walgaman (man) 'bin singing out to him "Bii Bii Bii- Bii Bii they used to call him Bii Bii, that Marranji, that walgaman singing out to him "Bowow bowow" and nothing. [Then] He 'bin come out and tell them "I 'bin chasing the kangaroo for all you lot, and you never gave me nothing...
They 'bin turn into rocks now (the boys and men). That rock's still there. You can see him. That's the river. And when he (Marranji) bin come out, they been turn into rocks.... Yeah."