One of the most famous and publicised cases in Australian history, the Chamberlain case polarised the public and the media, and is remembered as being one of the biggest miscarriages of justice for an individual and family.
It was in August of 1980 that the Chamberlain family went on a camping holiday in the Northern Territory. The night after arriving, as Lindy Chamberlain made her way back to their tent from a campfire, she saw that her 9-week old baby daughter, Azaria, was gone. She claimed she had been taken by a dingo.
A search party set out to look for Azaria, but she was not found, nor was any evidence. About a week later, a bloodied nappy and jumpsuit was found about 4000m from their campsite, confirming that the child was most likely dead. However, both Lindy and her husband Michael maintained that Azaria was wearing a matinee jacket, and this item had not been found.
The initial inquiry was supportive of the Chamberlains case – who, despite public disputes that dingoes were aggressive or bold enough to approach, let alone attack humans – maintained that Azaria was taken by a dingo. The Alice Springs magistrate and coroner Dennis Barritt concluded that a dingo entered the tent and took Azaria.
However, the Supreme Court quashed this result, and by an indictment, charged Lindy Chamberlain with murder, and Michael Chamberlain as being an accessory. They were both found guilty as charged. Although there was limited evidence, the coroner surmised that Lindy killed Azaria and then, with Michael’s help, staged her death as if she had been taken by a dingo.
Following this, the Chamberlain case was published in media so heavily that there was almost hysteria among the public. There were conspiracy theories, articles and books published about their potential motives, as well as a generally aggressive curiosity of the private lives and religious beliefs of the family.
On 29 October 1982, Lindy was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, and her husband Michael was sentenced to three years.
Three years into Lindy’s life-sentence, new crucial evidence emerged. Azaria’s matinee jacket – the cardigan the Lindy and Michael had maintained the baby was wearing, and the same cardigan the police said did not exist – was found partially buried near a dingo lair at the base of Uluru. The clothing label was found nearby, and it matched the description of the jacket Lindy had given in the second inquest.
This discovery was so pertinent to the Chamberlain’s case and hypothesis, 5 days later, Lindy was released from prison on February 7, 1986.
It wasn’t until the fourth and final inquest into the death of Azaria Chamberlain that Lindy and Michael (now both remarried) were exonerated. On June 12, 2012, Coroner Elizabeth Morris concluded and officially determined the death of Azaria was by a dingo and granted Lindy and Michael with an amended death certificate of Azaria.
The Chamberlain case made a lasting impression in culture, both nationally and internationally, with books, songs, an opera by Moya Henderson, and a film (starring Meryl Streep) being inspired by the case.
Today in Music in Time, listen to what music was being published and composed in the 1980s in Australia while this case was unfolding.
