Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton... exonerated over the death of her child in the early 1980s.
Although an inquest has finally answered once and for all whether a dingo took her baby, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton says she still has many questions.
Speaking to a packed Darwin courtroom on Tuesday, Deputy NT Coroner Elizabeth Morris found that a dingo killed Azaria Chamberlain while the family was on a camping trip at Ayers Rock in 1980.
Ms Chamberlain-Creighton said the finding was a “vindication” after years spent being questioned by the public, the media and the judiciary.
But she said “I still have many questions”.
“Why did (retired policeman) Frank Morris at the first inquest say, `I’m really sorry I was only doing my job?’ What was he apologising for?” she asked on Nine Network.
While she placed no blame with Mr Morris, Ms Chamberlain-Creighton said she believed some “personal ambition” was involved in the way her daughter’s death was handled.
“There was definitely some political intrigue in the Northern Territory … when people are dead you can tell the truth.”
Ms Chamberlain, as she was known at the time, was sentenced to life in prison in 1982 for murdering Azaria, and Michael Chamberlain was given a suspended sentence for being an accessory after the fact.
They were both exonerated in an 1987 royal commission.
Retired policeman Frank Morris said while he was not trying to blame anyone for the death of Azaria, he still believed clothes Azaria had been wearing were moved by a person or people.
“There has been human intervention; there is a number of ways we know that,” Mr Morris said on Tuesday.
“We don’t know who. That is the $64,000 question.”
The coroner’s finding came a day after Azaria would have celebrated her 32nd birthday.
“Birthdays are always hard to get over because they are the happy times,” Ms Chamberlain-Creighton said.
“I choose to remember the happy times.”
She said she would never “get over” the death of her daughter but has learned to deal with it better.
“You never forget.”
AAP
5 Comments
The truth has yet to be fully told about why Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty. In my opinion, the main reason was the ruthless ambition of three powerful people. There are surviving officers of the then NT Government who know the order was given to find Lindy guilty, because this would enhance the reputation of the new NT Government. There was also repression of evidence. For example, at the time, I asked Aboriginal associates from the largest community NW of Uluru if they had ever heard of a dingo taking a baby, and after checking with the oldies, they said yes, many years ago a Warlbiri baby was taken by a dingo. This freely available information was ignored by the Court. A proper inquiry, with interviews under oath of all senior personnel of the then Chief Minister’s Office, will undoubtedly bring all this to light. I would certainly like the opportunity to fill in some of the gaps in this victim’s understanding of why she was sacrificed. Incidentally, my own knowledge of the power-mongering is what I would call credible hearsay and could only be useful in terms of contextualising events, to guide professional investigators towards the real evidence and testimony.
Val Cawood, ranger Ian Cawood’s wife, found something in her backyard that night!
One question that should have been asked is why did Val Cawood and others stand out in the cold backyard for hours and hours that night?
Between 2-3 a.m. Peter Elston found three women, as he put it, “huddled around a spot in the back corner of the yard”; and Val had a shovel in her hand.
Later when a private researcher asked Val Cawood about what she wore that night, she inadvertently admitted that she burned the slacks she had worn. What spilled on those clothes that she needed to burn them?
The wild Dingo Den where Azaria’s cloths were found later would have been know to the park rangers but not the tourists. It was located on the other side of Ayers Rock far from the campsite. This suggests that at the very least Val Cawood placed baby Azaria’s clothes in that location in the wee hours of the morning, to deflect suspicion from the local dingos and Ding, to the wild ones.
An important note is that Val Calwood told Max Cranwell, who’s daughter had been attacked by Ding as he had grabbed her by the head and neck and dragged her out of the family car, that he had “taken care of” Ding; this meant Calwood had shot the dingo. He could be blamed if Ding was found to be the culprit in Azaria’s demise.
so why has cawoods back yard not been examined or dug up looking for Azarias body? I have said all along there has been human intervention in getting rid of Azarias body. SCUM BAGS! i hope karma gets them big time!!
am going to Australia next year all being well and am gonna visit Ayers rock and i will be visiting the area were cawoods house is or was …that beautiful baby girl deserves a proper burial she is owed that and so are her parents and her family makes me so angry and upset i would like to see if i could find Azaria
Ding had been tracked into the southeast corner of Cawood’s backyard, and he left from the northeast corner. Apparently he left through the front entrance gate to the backyard, which was at that corner. But now the animal was traveling light and running, as though he had been chased off, according to Aborigine tracker Nipper Winmatti.
Who was Ding?
No one that night, which included dozens of tourists and park rangers, ever thought anything other than a Dingo snatched the baby Azaria from the Chamberlain tent. There were even a select few yearlong park employees, in tune to their environment, that knew precisely which local Dingo had committed this awful deed. This one particular dingo, predictably named, “Ding” was the local Ayers Rock Park Ranger Ian Cawood’s pet.
Eight weeks before Azaria was attacked, Ding savaged another child, the daughter of one of the staff members, Amanda Cranwell. Val Calwood told Max Cranwell, who’s daughter had been attacked by Ding as he had grabbed her by the head and neck and dragged her out of the family car, that he had “taken care of” Ding; this meant Calwood had shot the dingo. He could be blamed if Ding was found to be the culprit in Azaria’s demise.
A few days after Azaria disappeared and close to Cawood’s home, Peter Elston and Roberta Downs saw the constable Frank Morris, execute Ding by putting a bullet through his head. Falling dead, Morris picked up the canine body, threw it on the back of his truck, and drove off.
It was the feeding ban, imposed a couple months earlier, which had caused the dingoes in the area to starve. They had become used to handouts; and there were just too many dingoes in the area and not enough wild game. This was why Ding was attacking people.