Lindy Chamberlain The True Story

Writer Marguerite O’Hara https://theeducationshop.com.au STUDY http://www.metromagazine.com.au © ATOM 2020 ISBN: 978-1-76061-387-7 GUIDE Lindy Chamberlain attends the Coroner’s Court in Darwin during the second inquest, 3 February 1982. Courtesy of Michael Rayner/ Fairfax

Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story is the definitive story of the life of Lindy Chamberlain and how the shocking circumstances of the tragic loss of her baby and its extraordinary aftermath continue to resonate today. There are two 90-minute episodes. This guide focusses on the first episode. Synopsis Lindy Chamberlain’s story has figured in ’s archive of family stills, movies, audio recordings collective consciousness since 1980 when a and letters, Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story is dingo took her baby from a tent at Uluru. It quickly a compelling universal story that still resonates became much more than that. The intrigue of the today. Forty years on, Lindy Chamberlain, her family, mostly unknown and untamed outback, of parents eyewitnesses, journalists, lawyers, judges, former –particularly mothers - not behaving in ways that politicians and authors talk candidly about the impact were believed to reflect conventional expectations. A of the case on them and on Australia. ruthless media that sensationalised the story, self- serving politicians and cowboy police resulted in the trial of the century and Australia’s most notorious miscarriage of justice. Through interviews with Lindy, her children and eyewitnesses today, archival footage and broadcasts and - for the first time - access to Lindy’s personal

CONTENT HYPERLINKS

3 CURRICULUM GUIDELINES 9 EPISODE 1 15 CLOSE VIEWING 5 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 9 Student Activity 1 – The 15 Student Activity 4 – Post- language of the law Viewing Questions

6 PEOPLE APPEARING IN THE © ATOM 2020 DOCUMENTARY 9 Student Activity 2 – 17 APPENDIX Themes and Issues 7 MAKING LINDY CHAMBERLAIN: 19 REFERENCES AND RESOURCES THE TRUE STORY 14 Student Activity 3 – Style 8 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT of the documentary 2 criminal trial and looks at the different roles of eyewitnesses, forensic evidence, and experts from other disciplines.

At the same time, it reflects an Australia that has changed a great deal but in other ways, very little. It explores the issue of societal pressure on how women, particularly regarding how mothers should behave. The way rumours and speculation contributed to a prejudicial atmosphere against the Chamberlains relates to the bullying, mockery and intolerance that are still shown to people of a different race or religion regarded as ‘the other’ that which people see as ‘the norm’.

The miscarriage of justice is an important legal issue explored in this documentary. It Curriculum shows the relationship between ignorance, prejudice, sexism and societal expectations of women and Guidelines men by the media and in the law. The program explores what happens when the fundamental As the events explored in this documentary occurred principal of innocent until proven guilty is sidelined by 40 years ago, for most students they will either be prejudgement. How often do courts and juries get it unknown, vaguely known through some familiarity wrong in Australia and what safeguards are there to with the names and the main story… or simply ensure that cases are heard, justice observed and the ancient history, a colourful case, a curiosity but Appeals Process available to all citizens? nothing more. The documentary is accessible and relevant to today Some students may be aware of the 1988 film, Evil and interesting for middle and senior secondary Angels, with Meryl Streep and which comes students, as well as for Law students at tertiary level. up on television every few years when there is an It addresses and offers a vehicle for several of the anniversary or a Meryl Streep Festival required General Capabilities listed in the National Curriculum, including: This is a very Australian story with continuing relevance today in terms of how we make judgements • Critical and Creative Thinking, about people in the media, how women and men • Personal and Social Capability, are portrayed by the media, with attention on those • Ethical Understanding and accused of serious crimes and the role of police in • Intercultural understanding investigations and the prosecution process. It also presents important information about the question * Specific Curriculum marks we should place around evidence given in a areas include:

LEGAL STUDIES AT SENIOR SECONDARY LEVELS

This documentary series could be studied as (a) a case study about the workings of the legal system, (b) miscarriages of justice, (c) the value and uses of forensic medicine, (d) the purpose and efficacy of eyewitness evidence, or (e) the value and the risks in the jury system.

POPULAR CULTURE

Several of the expressions associated with the story © ATOM 2020 including ‘A dingo took my baby’ have entered popular culture in a number of ways, including in 3 American television programs. The key principles of Australia’s justice system, including equality before the law, independent judiciary, and right The Chamberlain saga was the case that launched of appeal (ACHCK078) are also studied. This includes; numerous quips, on shows like Seinfeld and The Simpsons. That unfamiliar very Australian word, dingo, (a) examining factors that can undermine the application had something to do with it. So did a 1988 film, ‘A Cry of the principles of justice (for example, bribery, in the Dark,’ in which Meryl Streep developed another coercion of witnesses, trial by media and court of her many foreign accents to play Lindy Chamberlain. delays) and The mother’s cry, ‘The dingo’s got my baby,’ became a (b) examining how the media, or individuals through punch line, usually rendered in a mock Australian accent social media, could influence the outcome of a trial as ‘The dingo ate my baby.’ by publishing information about a defendant that could affect a jury’s decision How has popular opinion of this case changed over the past 40 years? To what extent has the treatment of MEDIA STUDIES women in the media changed over the past 40 years? These events took place from 1980 through to 2012 and CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN HISTORY received extensive media attention, through television, radio and print media. Online trolling had not yet become Areas of contemporary history include the changing a means for people to vent their opinions, but over the shape of Federation (NT had just achieved self- course of Lindy’s ordeal she received over 20 000 letters government and was aiming for statehood, the politics from the public, much of it abusive and hateful, as well of which became a barrier to opening another inquiry as being vilified across the media and in the public eye. between 1982-1986); development of Aboriginal land Though the technology was different, the harassing rights (this case was going on at the same time as behaviour then and now is the same.. Still, they were the fight for handover of Ayers Rock to its traditional pursued and photographed wherever they went and as custodians which occurred in 1985 and was re-named we hear in the documentary, the children were victims of Uluru); the changing role of women; the emergence of bullying and unpleasant insinuations at school. mass media. However, Lindy says at one point in an interview that 98% In what ways does this lengthy story have a place of reporters behaved well and that it was the editors that in Australian contemporary history? What made the made their life more difficult than it was already. elements of the story, the people concerned and the media response so compelling? Could such a case At the same time, it was through public pressure from happen today and be dragged out through the courts for lawyers and the general public throughout the 1980s more than 30 years. and 1990s that the case was not left to lie and Lindy to remain in gaol. Petitions for the case to be reviewed did What does it reveal about the skills of the Aboriginal keep it in the eye of politicians, lawyers and supporters people who tracked the dingo but were largely ignored as of the Chamberlains. expert advisors and witnesses in the court hearings? Do we now value their views about such matters? RELIGION AND SOCIETY

CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP The Chamberlains were active members of a relatively small Protestant religion – The Seventh Day Adventists Is it possible to protect individuals from the media – and there is evidence in the documentary that faith in whipping up hysterical half-truths about legal cases? God helped Lindy during their long ordeal. It may have How can people expect their right to be innocent also been one of the reasons why some people believed until proven guilty when popular media organisations the Chamberlains were ‘weird’. are peering intrusively into their lives to criticise and condemn them? What is the mass media guilty of doing At the same time, Aboriginal knowledge and and why does this matter? understanding of country is an unspoken background to the tragedy at Uluru. The local rangers were aware that Can you recall any recent cases which have been dingoes were capable of taking a small child from a tent. reported in ways that are certain to cause distress to Their knowledge of the country meant they were able relatives and victims and make a fair trial less likely? to track the movement of dingoes while the Police were looking for other kinds of evidence In Year 9 level Civics and Citizenship, one of the units and trampling all over the crime scene. studied investigates the role of the mass media in society, specifically the influence of a range of media, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned © ATOM 2020 including social media, in shaping identities and that this program may contain images and sounds that attitudes to diversity (ACHCK080). may relate to deceased persons. 4 Background Information

Alice Lynne Murchison was born in Whakatāne, child, Kahlia, was born in prison in November 1982 New Zealand, the daughter of Avis and Cliff two weeks after her mother commenced her life Murchison. She was known as Lindy from a young sentence. age. The family moved to Australia in 1969. On the night of August 17th, 1980, Lindy and Lindy and her family were members of the Michael Chamberlain and their three children, Seventh-day Adventist Church. Her father Cliff was Aidan, Reagan and Azaria were camping at Uluru in a Pastor. Lindy married an Adventist pastor, the the Northern Territory when 9-week-old Azaria was New Zealand-born Michael Chamberlain, on 18 taken by a dingo from the tent where she had been November 1969. sleeping. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant This is what we know about what happened that Christian denomination. It was a little known evening, corroborated by witnesses, also camping denomination at the time of Azaria being taken at Uluru at the time, and affirmed in law in the from the tent and the consequent rumours. findings of the 4th Coronial Inquest in 2012. Seventh-day Adventism is distinguished by its While the Chamberlains always maintained from observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the that August night to today that they believed a wild week in Christian and Jewish calendars, as the dingo had entered the tent and taken baby Azaria, Sabbath, and its emphasis on the imminent Second the Northern Territory Police, media organizations Coming (advent) of Jesus Christ. Seventh Day and the public speculated very early on in a very Adventists place an emphasis on vegetarianism public way that this was not a plausible account and physical health and well-being. The most and Lindy was constructed as a liar. recent census taken in Australia gives 0.03% of Australians claiming membership of the Seventh On pages 17–18 of this guide (the Appendix), there Day Adventists. is a chronology of the events between 1980 and 2012 in relation to the Chamberlain Case. This may For the first five years after their marriage the be useful for teachers and students to check and Chamberlains lived in , after which they follow the sequence of coronial inquests, a criminal moved to in northern . At the trial, hearings and a Royal Commission. time their 9-week old daughter Azaria was taken by a dingo, Michael Chamberlain served as minister of Mount Isa’s Seventh-day Adventist church. Below: Lindy, Azaria, Aidan and In the 1970s, the Chamberlains had two sons: Reagan, on Stuart Highway alongside their Torana, 16 August, Aidan, born in 1973, and Reagan, born in 1976. 1980. Courtesy of Michael Their first daughter, Azaria, was born on the 11th Chamberlain courtesy of NMA. of June in 1980. Their second daughter and fourth © ATOM 2020

5 People appearing in the documentary (in Archive and in Interview)

Apart from the people who are identifiable and speak in There are also several journalists who observed the the documentary, there are a number of members of legal hostility to the Chamberlains from both many members officials who are named - Coroners, Prosecutors, Defence of the public and the Northern Territory Police. Several of Lawyers, barristers and solicitors. They include Stuart these journalists recall their recollections and feelings at Tipple who was the Chamberlain’s Defence Lawyer from the time today. the second inquest right through the rest of their legal proceedings.

Lindy Mother of Aidan, Reagan, Azaria and Kahlia Northern Commissioner of NT Police Peter McAulay Chamberlain and the person accused of killing baby Azaria Territory 1978-1987 (d) – Creighton Police Superintendent Neil Plumb

Michael Detective Sergeant Graeme Charlwood Husband and father of Aidan, Reagan, Azaria Constable Jim Metcalfe Chamberlain and Kahlia Lawyers Crown Prosecutor and former NT Solicitor- Aidan Elder son Chamberlain General Ian Barker QC. Brisbane based criminal lawyer Des Sturgess QC (d) Reagan Younger son John Phillips QC (d) (later Chief Justice Chamberlain Victorian Supreme Court 1991-2003) Stuart Tipple, Chamberlain solicitor Kahlia Daughter born while her mother Lindy was Chamberlain imprisoned Hon Dr Ken Crispin QC (later director of public prosecutions for the ACT in 1991, chairman of the Bar Association in 1996, a Rick Lindy’s second husband Creighton Supreme Court judge in 1997 and president of the ACT Court of Appeal in 2001. He chaired the ACT Law Reform Commission Cliff and Avis Lindy’s parents Murchison between 1996 and 2006) Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG (Former High Witnesses Several couples and individuals who were Court Justice 1996-2009 a Deputy President to the case at the campsite on that night including of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration at Uluru Bobbie Elston, Bill (D)and Judy West (D) Commission (1975-83); Chairman of the campsite on and daughter Catherine West, Sally and Greg Australian Law Reform Commission (1975- the night of Lowe, Murray and Diana Haby, Amy and Max 84); Judge of the Federal Court of Australia 17th August, Whittaker (D) Wally and Margot Goodwin (1983-4); President of the 1980 and Phyllis Cranwell. Court of Appeal (1984-96); President of the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands (1995- Journalists Working journalists in 1980 and in the years 96) ) and writers afterwards Forensic Professor Barry Boettcher (for the Defence Ita Buttrose, Mike Carlton, Terry Willesee and experts John Bryson, Malcolm Brown, Jim Brown and Joy Kuhl (d) for the Crown Kevin Hitchcock Professor James Cameron Kenneth Brown Politicians – Chief Minister of the Northern Territory (NT) 1978-1984. Ian Tuxworth Chief Minister (NT) 1984 - 1986 (d) Attorney-General (NT) 1984-1986 Hon Prof Gareth Evans, Former Senator and Attorney- General (Cth) 1983-1984

Senator Colin Mason (d) Australian © ATOM 2020 Democrats 1977-1978

6 Making Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story The documentary came into being when Francine Finnane (Writer/Producer) and Mark Joffe (Director/Producer) proposed making a documentary on Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton to producers Ian Collie and Rob Gibson. The documentary was researched and developed over a period of two years. It is a multi-layered story about many things: grief, sexism, prejudice, miscarriage of justice, politics, legal bias, trial by media and mob mentality. But mostly it is a story about the impact of all these things over thirty- two years on an innocent family and those who shared their account of what happened when Azaria was taken by a dingo. The archive for the documentary was extensive. Lindy provided access to her personal archive including home movies, photo albums, audio recordings, family correspondence a collection of more than 20 000 letters held in her collection at the National Library of Australia. Other archives accessed were the Network Ten archive, National Film and Sound Archive, the ABC, the Nine Network, Fairfax and Newscorp, the State Library of NSW and Northern Territory (NT) Library and the NT Archives. Within the last couple of months of the making of the documentary the Northern Territory Police released their extensive archive from the case for public access. The research team was made up of two people who researched, logged and licensed the archival items for public use in the program.

CREATIVE TEAM

Director/Producer: Mark Joffe

Writer/Producer: Francine Finnane

Producers: Ian Collie, Rob Gibson, Francine Finnane & Mark Joffe

Editors: Mark Perry & Deborah Peart © ATOM 2020 Original Music: Elena Kats-Chernin

Narrator/ Executive Producer: Sam Neill 7 Director’s Statement Read through the Statement of Director Mark Joffe before watching the documentary.

Lindy Chamberlain’s story has figured in Australia’s nation experienced at the time. The gulf between collective consciousness since 1980 when a wild dog the two sides is vast, and gives us a true sense of took her defenceless baby in a random attack. But it the increasingly terrifying struggle faced by the quickly became much more than that. The intrigue of Chamberlains. the mostly unknown and untamed outback, of parents The stylistic inspiration and approach for making Lindy – particularly mothers - not behaving to conventional Chamberlain’s story will mirror documentaries such as expectations; ruthless media, self-serving politicians Senna, Wild, Amy, Wild Country and Making a Murderer and cowboy police ingrained with misogyny and - all films inherent with emotion, honesty and intrigue. racism, all combine to make this a universal story that still resonates today. Our aim is to engage the audience on a number of levels, never quite believing what was happening The 2014 New York Times retro report is testament and not quite being able to predict the route we take, to the story’s continuing currency as is the April whether familiar with the story or not. 2019 on a toddler on Fraser Island off Australia’s east coast. The series’ narrative will be shaped by the classical elements of documentary, including Lindy’s master That recent event raised worldwide headlines referring interview and those interviewee subjects listed above. to Lindy and the fateful night of Azaria’s disappearance The interviewer is not heard, there are no recreations, and its dramatic consequences. no artifice. Lindy Chamberlain’s story presents a unique An incredibly rich archive of footage, stills and audio opportunity to look at the miscarriage of justice and that capture the era will provide the raw resources the incarceration of innocent people and the price to create a compelling and dramatic documentary. they pay. It is a story that transcends national borders, Excerpts of some of the twenty thousand letters cultures, social boundaries and ingrained prejudices. written to Lindy over the course of her ordeal will be With unprecedented access to the key person – Lindy seen and read. This will be the narrative spine of the Chamberlain, now 72 and finally ready to share her full series, contextualising attitudes of the 80s to the case, story with the world – we now have the opportunity comparing then with now. to connect 1980 with today and ask: How far have we really come? We will layer all these elements with an evocative visual approach using multi-layered perspectives to The audience will have a personal and intimate juxtapose contemporary and historical interviews. This insight into the worlds of Lindy, her children (being will be a cinematic event for television. interviewed for the first time as adults), eyewitnesses to the night, lawyers to the case, politicians, police, The responses of Lindy and other interviewees will journalists and the members of the public. All provide also be used as voice-over to inform, illustrate, link a fresh opportunity to tell us what happened and what or illuminate the narrative as necessary. The result was going through their minds as this event spun out will be absorbing, harrowing and challenging, but from personal tragedy to a witch hunt. also surprising, leavened by Lindy’s ironic Australian humour. Throughout the series, our audience will experience the full spectrum of opinion on Lindy. From The issues raised by these events continue to be understanding the full weight of the case and the relevant socially, politically and culturally throughout growing public sentiment against her (judging for the world, in many ways even more so. Beyond all itself the strength of that case) but always swinging of this, Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story will be the back to the truth of Lindy’s experience, as revealed definitive version of, in every sense of the word, the in her contemporary interview - all the emotions the story of an extraordinary woman. © ATOM 2020

8 Episode 1 You don’t know what you’d do unless it happened to you – Lindy Chamberlain talking about the disappearance of Azaria. * Student Activity 2 – * Student Activity 1 – Themes and Issues The language of the law • Eyewitness Accounts Use each of the following words and terms in a • Circumstantial evidence sentence that shows that you understand the • Corroborative evidence meaning and the context in which it is generally used. They are all terms relevant to this case. Some of the key themes in this story and in the documentary include: Alternatively, you could share your understandings and create an agreed chart of meanings on a 1. Legal Issues and miscarriages of justice whiteboard. 2. Grief 3. Sexism and different expectations of women - Innocent until proven - Defence Team and of men guilty - Jury System 4. Ignorance, prejudice and its consequences. - Coronial Inquest - Wrongful conviction 5. Ongoing trial by media: the relationship between - Committal Hearing - Guilt/Innocence the media and the public - Lawyer - Acquittal 6. The role of evidence - eyewitnesses and forensic - Solicitor - Exonerated evidence - in a court trial - The Crown Case - Pardoned 7. The importance of keeping an open mind - Barrister - Quashing of a conviction 8. Knowledge of the Australian environment. - Prosecution - Forensic Evidence Despite a long history of dingo attacks on humans, many people in the 1980s were ignorant of the Australian wildlife and had difficulty believing that a wild dog could kill a baby. 9. Ethics and Professional Conduct 10. The personal qualities needed to see this situation through to the end.

Use Table 1 (the Viewing Chart) on page 10 to take notes as you watch the documentary, before responding to two of the sets of questions that follow each theme.

X “Jump to Table 1” on page 10 © ATOM 2020

When you have watched the documentary, you could share your impressions/information. 9 Table 1Jump to Table 1 VIEWING CHART

Legal issues and Examples miscarriages of justice

Ignorance, prejudice and Who, how and why? its consequences (eg religious prejudice)

Speaking truth and standing Who, how and why? up against wrongdoing

Grief and the different Who, how and why? ways it is experienced.

Ongoing trial by media: the Who, how and why? relationship between the media and the public

Sexism and expectations about Who, how and why? women and men in the media

The role of evidence - Usefulness in revealing the truth eyewitnesses and forensic evidence- in a court trial

Knowledge of country and the Who, how and why? Australian environment. (Despite a long history of dingo attacks on humans, many people in the 1980s were ignorant of the Australian wildlife and had difficulty believing that a wild dog could kill a baby.)

Ethics and Professional Conduct Who, how and why?

Personal qualities needed Examples to pursue the truth © ATOM 2020

10 1. Legal Issues and miscarriages of justice

In Australia, under the criminal legal system, a miscarriage of justice circles around the concept exonerated the Chamberlains of any wrongdoing, of ‘wrongful conviction’. This can result in up to 330 and the quashing of their convictions by the Darwin cases across Australia in both District and Supreme Supreme Court resulting in the Chamberlains’ Court offences annually where a potential miscarriage innocence being re-established. of justice has occurred. However, we don’t usually hear about most of them, only those that the media • What happens when the principle innocent can be fairly certain will attract attention. Lawyers, until proven guilty is sidelined by media and the some police officers, retired police officers and family public? and friends will often work for years to overturn • What is the role of police in taking evidence to a what they believe to be a miscarriage of justice and Coronial Inquest. wrongful conviction. This documentary illustrates the • What are the consequences of such judicial enormous difficulty in having convictions overturned errors, for the individual, the legal system and the as well as the personal toll of such a journey. way in which we regard the legal process? • What does this story reveal about the human cost Azaria’s disappearance was caused by a dingo of wrongful conviction? attack but in the following years there were four • How does the incorrect judgement stay with Coronial Inquests, a criminal trial, an appeal to the individuals and families for ever? Federal Court and to the High Court (that found the • How does Lindy Chamberlain seem to have coped blood evidence in the case was wrong but denied with the endless negative press she endured as the Chamberlains’ appeal), a Royal Commission that well as her incarceration in prison for 3 years? © ATOM 2020

11 3. Ongoing trial by media

There have always been audiences for stories about people who have disappeared, especially if no remains have been found; these cases are often referred to as ‘suspicious circumstances’. Rumours circulate about such mysteries taking on a life of their own where everyone seems to have an opinion, not generally based Azaria’s Christening with Lindy. Courtesy on any legal evidence. Bizarre theories have a way of of Lindy Chamberlain- multiplying by word of mouth well before the days of Creighton online media sharing. In the Chamberlain case this contributed to a prejudicial environment in which the case was reported and the judicial trial occurred. Even after the Chamberlains’ innocence was re-established by the 2. Darwin Supreme Court the tabloid media – radio, press and television – repeatedly asked the question ‘Did Lindy The ignorant pre-judgement of do it?’ even though her innocence was well established. the Chamberlains over the years When a child disappears under circumstances that The Chamberlains attracted an enormous amount of are not known or understood, the public interest interest and intrusion into their lives for many years since is even greater and the parent or parents or their the day Azaria disappeared. The religious faith that helped contacts are often suspected of ‘getting rid of’ a child Lindy and Michael reconcile the loss of Azaria was judged or children. by the police and the public as being the wrong behavior for grieving parents. There have even been suggestions How important was the loyalty of witnesses at the that the Northern Territory police were determined to Uluru campsite on the night Azaria disappeared have Lindy tried for murdering her daughter, despite the who never wavered in their evidence, along with the first coronial enquiry finding that Azaria was taken and presumably killed by a dingo. This unfounded speculation had enormous consequences on all the family – Lindy, Michael, Aidan, Reagan and Kahlia – including false accusations, wrongful conviction, imprisonment of an innocent woman, the taking of her baby born in prison and the enforced separation of mother from her children. Eventually Azaria’s matinee jacket was found. Lindy had been accused in the trial of lying about jacket. Lindy was released, a Royal Commission into the Chamberlain Convictions was held and eventually despite much resistance from the Northern Territory government, the Chamberlains had their convictions quashed and their innocence re-established. Yet despite the clear legal findings speculation persisted for years.

• What do you believe was behind this hostility towards the Chamberlains? • Do you believe such hostility could occur today? • Can you recall any other high-profile missing person cases where a close contact has been negatively represented in the media or thought to be a suspect? • What expectations does society tend to have about people accused of a crime or even by association? • Does not behaving as people believed a grieving mother should imply guilt or hard-heartedness? Is showing distress in public as bad as smiling? • How did the witnesses present on that night in © ATOM 2020 August 1980 offer a consistent account of what they saw and heard? 12 that the Chamberlains were of unblemished character. It instead used forensic theories that were ignorant of the capacity of dingoes to kill or false findings about blood in the car. Though there were documented cases in newspapers of dingoes killing humans there was no legal record or precedent.

A lack of scientific standards for assessing the results of forensic testing methods was a key finding by Justice Morling in the Royal Commission Inquiry into the Chamberlain case.

While most of us are not experts in the area of forensic science, this documentary refers to a number of errors made by expert witnesses for the prosecution and the police who were entrusted to support of many Australians who could not accept keep the scene of the ‘crime’ intact and uncorrupted the story put up by prosecutors? by outsiders.

• ‘I just don’t like her’ was a phrase or view often • Where do many of us get our information about expressed about Lindy Chamberlain. What does forensic medicine from? this have to do with the search for what happened • What are some of the instances in this case where to baby Azaria at Uluru in 1980? normal police protocols for collecting evidence • What was the effect of the media obsession with seem to have been ignored? Lindy’s demeanour and clothes? • How can forensic evidence be presented to • When you look at the photos of Lindy during the support or oppose a particular proposition as trial what are common themes in the images used evidence? to make her look guilty

Lindy holding Kahlia in hospital 4. after prison bail-out. Courtesy Evidence and its role of Michael Chamberlain in a court trial? courtesy of NMA

Partly as a result of our exposure to crime shows on television- sometimes called ‘the CSI effect’ - we tend to believe that forensic evidence is scientific and therefore the most trustworthy form of evidence in a trial. This may not always be the case.

In the Chamberlain case there were a number of eyewitnesses who did not know the Chamberlains who were also camping at Uluru. They consistently gave evidence in all the legal proceedings that supported Lindy’s account of the dingo taking Azaria. However because their evidence accorded with Lindy’s account they were sidelined, ignored or pressured to change their story. © ATOM 2020

The Crown case had no body, no confession, no motive and evidence 13 5. * Student Activity 3 The danger of dingoes. Many people – Style of the in the 1980s had difficulty believing documentary that a wild dog could take a baby away from a campsite or tent. Below is an excerpt from the Director’s Statement that outlines the approach taken to Since Azaria’s disappearance in 1980 at Uluru, dingoes have making the film. The Close Viewing Activity that been filmed at several Australian camp sites, especially on Fraser follows perfectly illustrates this approach to Island. There are early newspaper records of dingoes attacking documentary making. and killing humans. When dingoes interact closely with people and have access to food, their behaviour changes. Scavengers do not ‘An incredibly rich archive of footage, stills discriminate, especially in times for drought. Such factors can result and audio that capture the era will provide in increased aggression and dingo activity. the raw resources to create a compelling and dramatic documentary. Excerpts of some of • Should predatory animals that live in the wild be trusted by the twenty thousand letters written to Lindy humans who have entered their areas? over the course of her ordeal will be seen and • In what ways are wild dogs or dingoes unlike the domestic read. This will be the narrative spine of the dogs that most Australians are used to? series, contextualising attitudes of the 80s to • Investigate the number of dingo attacks on Fraser Island. the case, comparing then with now. Have there been any cases of children being killed? We will layer all these elements with an evocative visual approach using multi- layered perspectives to juxtapose contemporary and historical interviews. This will be a cinematic event for television.

The responses of Lindy and other interviewees will also be used as voice-over to inform, illustrate, link or illuminate the narrative as necessary. The result will be absorbing, harrowing and challenging, but also surprising, leavened by Lindy’s ironic Australian humour.

The issues raised by these events continue to be relevant socially, politically and culturally throughout the world, in many ways even more so’ – Mark Joffe, Director

• How successfully do you think the filmmakers are in integrating and balancing 6. the many perspectives about the Chamberlain story? The personal qualities needed to see • In what ways are documentaries and this situation through to the end dramas, made for television, now challenging feature films on the big screen in The ordeal of the Chamberlain family and particularly Lindy went terms of their production values? on from 1980 – 2012. All the issues listed above contributed to the • Setting aside the current conditions in continuing pain for the Chamberlain family. many parts of the world that make going to a movie theatre problematic or in some • What do you think would have been the most difficult places, impossible, what does this suggest aspects of this situation for the family? about how filmmakers might choose to • Make a list of the injustices and privations to which Lindy create, produce and sell their work and Chamberlain was exposed over the past 32 years in what forms? Was this move to the • What are some of the qualities Lindy demonstrates in this small screen beginning prior to the global documentary that suggest something about her personal pandemic? strengths? • How do new technologies such as iView, • If you know that you are innocent of a misdemeanour or a On Demand streaming and platforms crime, how difficult is it to keep fighting to have your name such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Stan cleared? provide many opportunities to watch quality © ATOM 2020 • To what extent does it seem that the religious convictions of programs in extended forms without ever the Chamberlains helped them to get through their ordeals? leaving the couch? Is this necessarily a good thing? 14 Azaria asleep on Pillow. Courtesy of Lindy Chamberlain- Creighton

* Student Activity 4 – Post-Viewing Questions

Choose one of the following topics to respond to several of the central questions raised by this trial and verdict in 1982. Question 1 concerns the selective nature of evidence used by the prosecution while question 2 asks you to consider as reasonably as possible why such a verdict was delivered in this case.

1 Looking more closely Close Viewing at the evidence 55:02-60:00 – This sequence from the first part of the • Which group of people are most likely to know the documentary incorporates several of the themes that country around Uluru and the behaviour of wild are skillfully interwoven into the program. Themes and dogs around people camping there? archival footage overlap with contemporary interviews • How was their evidence about tracking on that which are juxtaposed with 1980s reports. night regarded by the courts? • What was another witness at the campsite on that • Why do you think the trial of Lindy and day able to report about her experience when a Michael in Darwin was described as the dingo approached her family’s campsite? ‘Trial of the Century’? • How has the truth of the local residents’ • What is one of the difficulties for the knowledge been vindicated in relation to the Prosecution in hoping for a conviction of behaviour of dingoes in other tourist places in the Chamberlains? Australia, such as Fraser Island? • What are the journalists who observed the relentless crowd behaviour in Darwin able to report about how this affected the Chamberlains? • What image of Lindy was repeatedly shown on television and in newspapers and magazines? What seemed to be the intention of always showing the same shot? • While the T-Shirts and jokes made about dingoes were usually made at Lindy’s expense, how did the family in fact respond to these persistently ‘offensive’ and generally ignorant attempts to express an anti-Lindy view? • What does Lindy think was the most likely reason for the jury returning a guilty verdict? How did the Chief Prosecutor Ian Barker, characterize the previous © ATOM 2020 coroner’s decision about what happened to Azaria? Reagan and Aidan Chamberlain at the Ayers Rock campsite. Courtesy of Michael Chamberlain courtesy of NMA 15 2 How could this verdict have been reached by a jury in Darwin in 1982?

With rumours gathering all over the country about what happened to baby Azaria on that night in August, 1980, suspicion fell on the parents, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain. Given the facts of this case – there are no eyewitnesses to the disappearance, no body, no confession, no motive - and, apparently, credible evidence of their innocence, Lindy Chamberlain, the mother of Azaria is convicted of murder at the trial in Darwin. Michael, her husband, is found guilty of concealing the crime. Two subsequent appeals fail to have the decisions overturned.

• Various people who reported on this case in the Northern Territory make comments about the Territory being a very macho and tough town during the 1980s, not used to women being ABOVE: Lindy Chamberlain awaits the judge’s assertive in any way. How do you think the decision at the end of the second inquiry into the public and political mood to defend their tourism disappearance of her baby daughter. Courtesy of might have played a part in how the evidence Michael Rayner/ Fairfax BELOW: Michael on top was collected and presented at the Chamberlain of Ayers Rock. Courtesy of Michael Chamberlain Trial? courtesy of NMA • Knowing why a jury returns a verdict is almost impossible to know, even if you attend the • Try to imagine how you would feel if you were court and listen to all the evidence presented. condemned to a life sentence with hard labour What do you think from what we hear and see for a crime that you did not commit and that was in this documentary might have led to the guilty not a crime with a human perpetrator. verdict? Why were so many people convinced Part 2 of this program deals with what happened they were guilty? How could our legal system in the years after the Chamberlains’ criminal have failed? Could any of us fall victim to a convictions. similar miscarriage of justice? © ATOM 2020

16 Appendix * A chronology of the trial of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain

AUGUST 17, 1980.

While Lindy and Michael Chamberlain are vacationing near Ayers Rock in Australia’s Northern Territory, 10-week-old Azaria Chamberlain disappears from the family tent

AUGUST 24, 1980 Michael holding The bloody jumpsuit and singlet of Azaria is found near a Azaria on Ayers Rock. boulder at the base of Ayers Rock by a tourist Courtesy of Michael Chamberlain courtesy DECEMBER 14, 1980 of NMA The first coroner’s inquest into the death of Azaria opens before Denis Barritt. NOVEMBER 19, 1982 FEBRUARY 20, 1981 Lindy Chamberlain, two days after giving birth to a baby Coroner Barritt finds that Azaria was taken and girl who is immediately taken from her, is released on bail presumably killed by a dingo (a wild dog). pending an appeal. SEPTEMBER 19, 1981 FEBRUARY 7, 1983 Northern Territory police search the home of the The Full Bench of the Federal Court hears the appeal of Chamberlains in Cooranbong, New South Wales the Chamberlains. NOVEMBER 18, 1981 APRIL 29, 1983 The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory quashes The Federal Court, in a unanimous vote, rejects the the findings of the first inquest, and orders that a second Chamberlains’ appeal and Lindy is returned to prison. inquest into Azaria’s death be held. NOVEMBER 28, 1983 DECEMBER 14, 1981 The Chamberlains seek leave to appeal their convictions A second coroner’s inquest opens before Gerry P. Galvin. to Australia’s High Court. FEBRUARY 2, 1982 FEBRUARY 22, 1984 Coroner Galvin commits Lindy Chamberlain for Australia’s High Court, voting 3 to 2, upholds the trial in relation to the murder of Azaria, and Michael conviction of the Chamberlains despite finding the blood Chamberlain on a charge of being an accessory after the evidence is faulty. fact. MAY 3, 1984 SEPTEMBER 13, 1982 A petition with 131,000 signatures calling for Lindy’s The Chamberlain trial opens in a Darwin courthouse release and a judicial inquiry into the case is presented to before Justice James Muirhead. the Governor-General, Sir Ninian Stephen OCTOBER 13, 1982 NOVEMBER 1985 The defence opens its case in the Chamberlain trial. ‘Evil Angels,’ a book by Melbourne barrister John OCTOBER 29, 1982 Bryson, provides an in-depth look at the Chamberlain case, and suggests that they might have been wrongfully The Chamberlain case goes to the jury. The jury finds convicted. Lindy guilty of murder and Michael guilty of being an accessory after the fact. Lindy is sentenced to life at hard NOVEMBER 12, 1985 labour, while Michael’s sentence is deferred. © ATOM 2020 The Northern Territory rejects the application of the Chamberlain Innocence Committee for a full judicial inquiry into the case 17 Reagan and Aiden heading up for Ayers Rock, passing the Devils Marbles, 15 August 1980. Courtesy of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton

NOVEMBER 1988

A movie about the Chamberlain case,(‘Evil Angels’ or ‘A Cry in the Dark’ as it was titled overseas, starring Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain and Sam Neill as Michael Chamberlain, is released.

1992

Lindy and Michael Chamberlain receive $1.3 million compensation from the Northern Territory NOVEMBER, 25, 1985 government for wrongful imprisonment but the sum does not cover their legal bills. The Northern Territory turns down Lindy Chamberlain’s application for early release from prison. DECEMBER 20, 1992

FEBRUARY 2, 1986 Lindy Chamberlain marries Rick Creighton, an American publisher and fellow Seventh Day Adventist A matinee jacket matching the description of the jacket Azaria wore on the day of her disappearance in NOVEMBER 29, 1995 discovered at Ayers Rock A third coroner’s inquest-- a ‘paper inquest’--into FEBRUARY 7, 1986 Azaria’s death is held before Coroner John Lowndes

Lindy Chamberlain is released from prison. The Northern DECEMBER 13, 1995 Territory Government announces that there will be a new Coroner Lowndes maintains that the cause of Azaria’s inquiry into Azaria’s death. death ‘cannot be determined.’ MARCH 1986 AUGUST 6, 2004 The Australian Current Affairs television show ‘Sixty Melbourne pensioner Frank Cole, now 78, takes a lie Minutes’ runs interviews with the Chamberlains detector test to prove his story that in August 1980 he continuing to assert their innocence shot the dingo that killed Azaria, then showed the baby’s MAY 8, 1986 body to his companions. He passes the test, but Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton expresses doubts about his A judicial inquiry into the convictions of the Chamberlains story. opens in Darwin before Justice Trevor Morling. 2010 MAY 22, 1987 Following a number of tragedies including a boy being Justice Morling issues a 379-page report analysing the killed by a dingo on Fraser Island, Lindy writes an open evidence in the Chamberlain case. The report finds if the letter appealing for the issuing of a death certificate that evidence provided at the Commission had been available clearly states the cause of Azaria’s death. at trial the judge would’ve been obliged to direct the jury to aquit the Chamberlains on the grounds of insubstantial FEBRUARY 2012 evidence. A fourth coroner’s inquest into the death of Azaria is The Northern Territory Government pardons the opened. Lindy Chamberlain expresses the hope that the Chamberlains but the pardon is rejected by Lindy and inquest will both clear her name and alert the public to Michael as they have done nothing to be pardoned for. the fact that ‘dingoes are a dangerous animal.’

OCTOBER 21, 1987 JUNE 12, 2012

The Northern Territory Government enacts special Coroner Elizabeth Morris made the formal finding that legislation authorizing the Chamberlains to apply to the the cause of Azaria’s death was a dingo. Ending Lindy’s Court of Appeal to have their convictions quashed. long struggle for justice.

SEPTEMBER 15, 1988 Lindy has never received an apology from those

responsible for what is regarded as Australia’s greatest © ATOM 2020 The Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeals miscarriage of justice. unanimously quashes all convictions against Lindy and Michael Chamberlain. 18 References and Resources The following are only a fraction of the material that has been published in various forms about the Chamberlain case.

* Books, films and * Websites documentaries A chronology of the main events in the Chamberlain Though My Eyes: An Autobiography, Lindy case between 1980 and 2012. https://www. Chamberlain, Heineman Australia,1990 famous-trials.com/dingo/456-chronology Heart of Stone, Justice for Azaria, Michael An article about the human costs of wrongful Chamberlain, New Holland Publishers, 2012 conviction Innocence Regained, The Fight to Free Lindy https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-the- Chamberlain, Norman H. Young , The Federation chamberlain-case-the-human-cost-of- wrongful- Press, 1989 conviction-7730 The Chamberlain Case, Ken Crispin QC, Scribble, 2013 A discussion of the case on ABC Radio National’s The Chamberlain Case: Nation, Law, Memory by Law Report program from 2010, 30 years after Editors: Deborah Staines, Michelle Arrow and Azaria’s disappearance. You can listen to the Katherine Biber, Australian Scholarly Publishing. program online or download a transcript. https:// “Dingo Media? The Chamberlain Case as Model for www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ an Australian Media Event.” Middleweek, Belinda. lawreport/the-chamberlain-case-the- lessons- 2007. PhD thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney. learned/3020830 Weeping On Cue: The Socio-Legal Construction Of Motherhood In The Chamberlain Case, Emma Marguerite O’Hara 24/09/2018 Cunliffe B.A/LL.B. (Hons) The University of Melbourne, 1999 THESIS 2003 * Endnotes Evil Angels, John Bryson, Penguin, 1985 ‘Evil Angels’ (‘A Cry in the Dark’ overseas) 1988 i https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-the- a dramatized feature film based on the book chamberlain-case-the-human-cost-of-wrongful- directed by Fred Schepisi, starring Meryl Streep as conviction-7730 Lindy and Sam Neill as Michael Chamberlain. ii https://www.famous-trials.com/ dingo/456-chronology

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