On August 19, 1980, The Canberra Times published an article on Page 7, headed “”Dingo blamed over missing baby”. It said, “”The search for a baby girl snatched by a wild dog late on Sunday will continue at first light today near Ayers Rock.” The report took at face value the statement from Michael Chamberlain that his wife, Lindy, had see a dingo take their baby.
Fair-minded people should now acknowledge, whatever their belief at various times in the intervening 15 years, that the Chamberlains were telling the truth. The scientific evidence that backed initial police suspicion has been thoroughly discredited. And once baby Azaria’s matinee jacket was found in a manner that was consistent with the Chamberlains’ evidence, the finding of the Morling Royal Commission that the convictions were unsafe was inevitable. The Chamberlains were pardoned; the convictions quashed after special legislation was passed and compensation paid. That meant the legislature and executive had acknowledged error. But not the legal system. Last week a new coroner’s inquest returned an open verdict, refusing to accept the Chamberlains’ submission that a dingo took their baby. That finding is unfair. The coroner, in a way representing the Australian legal system, should have taken the opportunity to admit error. Once the scientific evidence goes and prejudice is put aside, there is only one conclusion … in the words of Lindy Chamberlain: “”My God a dingo’s got my baby.”