THE PARENTS OF Azaria Chamberlain, a baby who disappeared over thirty years ago in Australia, say that the truth about what happened to their daughter needs to be recognised and have called for a new inquest into her death.
The 10-week-old baby disappeared from her tent on August 17, 1980 at Uluru – the ensuing court case is one of the most publicised in Australian history.
Azaria’s parents, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Michael Chamberlain, have always insisted that their daughter was taken by a dingo as she slept in a tent at the family’s campsite.
However speculation that the parents had a hand in their daughter’s fate was rife, and two years after the disappearance of Azaria, the baby’s mother – who was pregnant at the time – was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Michael Chamberlain was convicted as an accessory after the fact and given a suspended sentence.
Having spent three years in prison, Chamberlain-Creighton’s sentence was quashed after a scrap of the baby’s clothing was found by a dingo’s lair.
However, to this day – even after after three coronial inquests, two appeals and a Royal Commission - the cause of Azaria’s death is still listed as ‘unknown’ on her death certificate. The parents want the certificate to say, definitively, that a dingo took their child.
Michael Chamberlain told The Australian newspaper that he would never get over the death of his daughter:
While this case is still open and while we have to keep fighting of course you won’t forget about it… I have a deep abiding regard for my daughter obviously and I want the truth for her to be told.
It is thought that the new inquest will open next year.
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