ULURU, NT. — Uluru, formerly Ayers Rock, is a huge monolith in central Australia. It has long been a popular tourist destination, but gained a new notoriety on the night of August 17, 1980, when two-month-old Azaria Chamberlain went missing from the nearby camping ground. When baby Azaria disappeared, her mother Lindy claimed that a dingo had stolen her baby.
No trace of the child was ever found, although her bloodstained clothes were found a week later by another tourist. At the first inquest into her death, commencing in February 1981, it was found that the likely cause of Azaria’s disappearance was a dingo attack.
Police and prosecutors, unhappy with this judgement, moved for a second inquest which began on September 13, 1981. This time, the new finding was made that Azaria had been killed with a pair of scissors and held by a small adult hand until she stopped bleeding.
Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on October 29, 1982, and her husband Michael was found guilty of being an accessory.
Lindy Chamberlain’s acquittal came several years later when a British tourist fell to his death from Uluru. When his body was finally located eight days later amid an area full of dingo lairs, Azaria Chamberlain’s missing jacket was also found.
New evidence was presented showing that the methods of testing previous evidence had been unreliable, and no conviction could be made on those grounds.
Both Chamberlains were officially pardoned; Lindy was released and eventually awarded AU$1.3 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
