AM 296/02 Mabel Juli Kulungurruny 2002
Natural ochre & pigment on canvas 120 x 90 cm $4,400.00

Mangidilban survived a massacre of Gija people which happened on the other side of the Panton River from Kulungurruny, a hill near Yarrunga Community (Chinaman's Garden), which lies south of Warmun.  Mabel says gadiya used to poison the old people and shoot them like dogs.  In Mangidilban's case, the gadiyas shot his mate who was sitting right next to him.  Mangidilban fell to the ground at the same time.  He took blood from his mate's wound and rubbed it on his nose, lips and eyes, and lay there with his eyes open as if he were dead.   The gadiya poked him to make sure he was dead, but he didn't move.  He was breathing slowly so they didn't notice.  The gadiyas, thinking he was dead , went eastwards to collect wood to make a fire to burn the bodies. Mangidilban watched them go off, and when they were a long way away he jumped up and shouted "here I am, you can't catch me!" He was a good runner, like a kangaroo.  He ran down to the Panton River, crossed it, ran up the hill and into a cave (the black shape in the middle of the hill in the foreground of the painting). The gadiyas chased him and shot at him. They climbed up to the cave and looked inside the small opening, but Mangidilban had climbed up to another cave on top.  The gadiyas made a fire in the cave, pushed it in with sticks, and the old man called out from above, pretending to be hurt.  The gadiyas thought they'd got him, and went back to make camp.  He watched them go through a tiny hole, just big enough to see through.  He slept and at dawn crawled down to the cave entrance.  He felt the ground to see if the ashes of the fire were cool.  They were, and he crawled out over them.  He went north through rocky country and deep gullies, to Texas (Downs Station) where his brother was, and then on to Warmun (Turkey Creek), where he lived until he died. Today you can still see fragments of bone at the place where people were shot and burnt. The cave where Mangidlban hid is on the right hand side of the painting.