Michael Chamberlain - Death of Azaria

Death of Azaria

In August 1980, the Chamberlain family were to holiday in Darwin, Northern Territory, where Michael intended on fishing for barramundi. Lindy Chamberlain, however, had visited Uluru when she was 16 and wished to visit again, so the family travelled there with the intention of camping three days before continuing on to Darwin. The family had several encounters with dingoes after making camp at Uluru, including on the night of 17 August when Chamberlain fed one a piece of crust. Shortly before 8:00pm, Lindy Chamberlain put Azaria to bed in their tent and returned to the campfire. After crying out at about 8:00pm, Azaria disappeared from their tent, never to be seen again.

Investigators observed paw prints on the floor of the tent and bloodstained clothing belonging to the child was later discovered amongst rocks near the base of Uluru. The coronial inquest in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, in 1981 concluded that the baby had been taken by a dingo, however this finding was overturned by another inquest in Darwin in 1982. Lindy Chamberlain was subsequently tried for murder and given a life sentence, whilst Michael was convicted of being an accessory after the fact and given an eighteen-month suspended sentence.

During her imprisonment in Darwin, Lindy Chamberlain gave birth to the couple's fourth child, Kahlia (born 17 November 1982). Two weeks later, Chamberlain was awarded a Master of Arts degree through Andrews University. He later attributed his perseverance in studying for the degree during this difficult period as motivated by anger towards the Northern Territory government.

The final resolution of the case was triggered by a chance discovery. In early 1986, English tourist David Brett fell to his death from Uluru during an evening climb. Because of the vast size of the rock and the scrubby nature of the surrounding terrain, it was eight days before Brett's remains were discovered, lying below the bluff where he had lost his footing and in an area full of dingo lairs. As police searched the area, looking for missing bones that might have been carried off by dingoes, they discovered a small item of clothing. It was quickly identified as the crucial missing piece of evidence from the Chamberlain case—Azaria's missing matinee jacket.

The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory ordered Lindy Chamberlain's immediate release and the case was reopened. A 1987 Royal Commission examined the case against the Chamberlains and the science behind key forensic evidence was challenged. On 15 September 1988, the Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously overturned all convictions against Lindy and Michael Chamberlain. The exoneration was based on a rejection of the two key points of the prosecution's case—particularly the alleged fetal haemoglobin evidence—and of bias and invalid assumptions made during the initial trial.