The Australian outback is both a place of beauty and despair. It is hard to find anywhere else where beauty results from the harshness of the outback itself.
Many people venture into remote central Australia to experience this. Campers relish the blue night sky and the red-hot earth.
This is especially true of Uluru (Ayers Rock). It is an extraordinary sight. r Rising 1,140 feet above the surrounding flat plain. As the world’s largest rock monolith, Uluru is taller than the Eiffel Tower and the Chrysler Building.
It is sacred to Indigenous Australians. It formed about 550 million years ago, and many view it as Australia’s spiritual heart. The nearest town to it is Alice Springs, 450 km away.
It is raw, untamed Australia.
That Fateful Night
Forty-four years ago, the Chamberlain family visited Uluru to see raw Australia. I am sure they have regretted it many times since.
This camping holiday became the centre of one of Australia’s greatest injustices.
Amid cries from a distressed baby, a mother screamed, “A dingo has taken my baby! Help!”
Fellow campers at the campsite quickly raised the alarm. Police and indigenous and white trackers arrived at the scene. They found an empty carry basket, large amounts of blood, and dingo tracks leading from the tent.
Three eyewitnesses stated they had heard baby Azaria’s cries. The mother, Lindy Chamberlain, gave evidence that she had seen a dingo leaving the tent. The trackers followed the dingo prints as far as they could. The authorities halted them when the prints mixed with human shoe prints by the side of the road.
They saw drag marks and shallow depressions in the sand, where the suspected bundle had been set down, apparently while the animal rested. The depressions showed an imprint of a knitted garment. Next to them were small, dark patches in the sand, which they took to be blood.
No one Believed Her
As the days passed after Azaria’s disappearance, the family waited for news of their daughter. It never came. They ultimately abandoned the search.
Instead, rumors spread that Lindy and her husband, Michael, had killed their child and made up this excuse to cover their tracks.
A key part of the prosecution’s case was forensic findings of infant blood in the family car. This evidence would face widespread discrediting in the future. The investigators based the case on circumstantial evidence.
No body was ever found.
Debate raged over whether dingoes were dangerous and would steal a child. The Chamberlains’ religion as Seventh-day Adventists also fueled baseless cult accusations.
We now know dingoes can attack young children and babies.
Why would we ever doubt that they wouldn’t defy logic?
They are wild dogs!
Image by Filedimage_Licensed Depositphotos_79034148
The Long Battle
The first inquest ruled that a dingo had taken Azaria. The coroner attacked the police for shoddy work. Those involved then launched a campaign, ‘Operation Ochre,’ to get even and set the record straight.
On re-examination of the eyewitnesses, the police told them, “We do not want to hear anything about a dingo. This is a murder investigation.”
In 1982, the court sentenced Lindy Chamberlain to life in prison. This was after a second inquest based on faulty evidence. The evidence would later dismissed. Her husband got an 18-month suspended sentence for being an accessory.
After three years in prison and failed appeals, authorities released Lindy in 1986. This was purely by chance, as Azaria’s jacket was found in an area with many dingo lairs. Police were searching for the remains of a British tourist who fell from Uluru during a night climb.
After two further inquests, it was established in 2012 that a dingo took and killed Azaria Chamberlain. They paid Lindy $1.3 million for false imprisonment and amended Azaria’s death certificate.
The Chamberlains divorced in 1991. They could not resolve the trauma of their daughter’s death. Michael Chamberlain died in 2017. Lindy Chamberlain remarried in 1992.
We now have a more open mind.
Lindy Chamberlain had everything against her. The media and public formed their opinions based on errant reports and insensitive jokes about dingoes and babies. This incident is now used as an example of a “trial by media.”
There is also much more evidence that dingoes will attack humans. Since this event, there have been 400 reports of dingo attacks. For example:
In 1998, a dingo attacked a 13-month-old girl. It dragged her about one meter (3 ft) from a picnic blanket at a campsite. The toddler was rescued by his father.
In August 2024, a dingo attacked a four-year-old girl on K’gari (Fraser Island).
So far this year, we have recorded 12 “high-risk interactions.”
Dingoes are one of Australia’s most iconic wild animals. They are descendants of domesticated dogs and became wild when Asian seafarers introduced them to Australia about 4,000 years ago.
Dingoes have developed into one of the top predators in the Australian wilderness. They help balance ecosystems by preying on animals like rabbits, kangaroos, and rodents. Their dual nature as familiar and a wild creature raises questions about their interactions with humans.
Some people have kept them as pets. However, even pet dogs can be attacked under some circumstances.
I was in my twenties when Azaria disappeared. I clearly remember the case being widely covered in the media and the plethora of jokes that were around.
Azaria would have been 34 this year. The case is a stark reminder of how we got it wrong and how we are sometimes too quick to judge with a closed mind.
We judged a woman for being a ‘different kind of mother.’ We judged someone for their religious beliefs. We trusted flawed forensic evidence over those who lived with dingoes.
Calvin runs a boutique consulting company. He is an established author of over 50 publications but started this site to explore the lighter side of life and all the curious things it has to offer. He is developing a career as a freelance writer.
