WAC53/25 – MABEL JULI Wirroongoon

– 45 x 45 cm

Mabel has painted hills  which tells a story of the dream-time that takes place on her country. A place that is called home for Mabel – this is Chinamen’s Garden, though it is well known by its’s black fella name Yurrunga..

The little black & white birds went playing along the sandbank and waters edge where they started to build hill like figures from the soggy wet sand – one for each little bird. Mabel says that is is also a special dreaming hill that is located on her country. This was where the little birds emerged from before creating the dreaming hills.

Still to this day these special dreaming hills still stands, as a reminder of the importance of our dreaming stories. ” I teach all my kids and my gran-kids about the dreaming and the stories, they very important that one”

This work is inspired by a Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) story about Goorlabal the Serpent.

In the Ngarranggarni, Goorlabal travelled from One Mile in search of water. He found water in the Springvale River. He rolled on his back in the water because he was over-heated. He turned into stone and is still there today.

Goorlabal protects the waterways near Warmun, and this work shows the waterways entwined with the vertebrae of Goorlabal.