A Dingo Got My Baby

August 17, 1980

Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia

Azaria Chamberlain (9 weeks old) is murdered by a dingo.

In August 1980, Lindy (pictured with Azaria) and Michael Chamberlain brought their three kids camping at Ayers Rock (also called Uluru). 

On the evening of August 17, Lindy heard the baby scream loudly, and she quickly ran to the family’s tent where her daughter Azaria had been sleeping in her bassinet. Lindy saw a dingo exit the tent. She found that bassinet was empty and large quantities of blood — relative to the quantity of an infant — in, on, and around the tent. She also saw bloodstains on the dingo track.

Lindy screamed the now-famous line “My God, my God, the dingo’s ate my baby!” which alerted other campers as well as her spouse Michael. A voluntary rescue squad was assembled who followed the dingo paths and drag marks, at one point discovering a knitted weave pattern in a depression in the ground which seemed to indicate the animal had placed the baby on the ground to rest briefly. The tracking came to a halt when the tracks faded and crossed with others. Azaria’s corpse was never discovered.

The case became sensationalized shortly, with stories and beliefs spreading rampant as the public tried to make a judgment of the incident; dingo assaults on humans were unheard of at the time. The Chamberlains were practicing Seventh-Day Adventists, which was unusual in Australia, and one belief circulated claiming that the family believed in child sacrifice and Azaria was murdered to atone for the Church’s sins. This theory was mainly based on a false translation of Azaria’s name, which was initially claimed to have meant “sacrifice in the wilderness,” rather than the valid Hebrew translation of “God has helped.” 

Despite the lack of a corpse, a motive, and eye-witnesses, Lindy and Michael were caught in connection with their daughter’s murder. Ian Barker of the prosecution expressed the lack of the reason by telling the court, “The Crown does not venture to indicate any reason or motive for the murder. It is not part of our case that Mrs. Chamberlain had recently shown any ill will toward the baby,” though he named the story of the dingo assaults a “fanciful lie, calculated to hide the truth.”

Barker declared Azaria “died very soon because somebody had cut her throat,” highlighted by a professor of forensic medicine James Cameron’s statement. Cameron indicated to the jury what he understood were bloody fingerprints on the infant’s clothes, disclosed under ultraviolet light. The defense, upon cross-examination, tried to disprove Cameron’s statement by referring to previous cases in which Cameron’s testimony helped lead to the convictions of defendants later proven to have been innocent. 

Observers who were at the camp at the time of Azaria’s disappearance confirmed for the Crown, stating the reaction of Michael and Lindy seemed odd for parents whose child had suddenly disappeared. Michael, who did not help in the search for Azaria, said to the group, “A dingo has taken our baby, and she is perhaps dead now.” Barker contended Michael did not support the search because he understood she was already dead, after having participated in Azaria’s murder. Additionally, Lindy, as she was comforted by another camper, reportedly announced, “Whatever happens, it is God’s will.”

Bernard Sims, an odontologist who had researched dog attacks on humans, confirmed a dingo was unable of holding a baby’s skull in its jaws. He was confronted with pictures during cross-examination, which displayed a dingo holding a life-sized baby doll in its jaws. The crown of the doll’s skull was to the back of the dingo’s jaws while the animal’s teeth reached to the doll’s ears. With the picture, Sims confessed his earlier testimony might be incorrect. 

Two years after Azaria’s disappearance, in October 1982, Lindy and Michael were convicted of their daughter’s murder. Lindy was found guilty of killing and sentenced to life in jail without the chance of parole, while Michael was found guilty of being an accessory after the reality and given an 18-month suspended sentence.

New information into the incident was found around 3 and a half years later, in February of 1986 when hiker David Brett fell to his death from Ayers Rock. The region was rife with dingo lairs and, when his corpse was found 8 days after his deadly fall, the area was searched for any bones or other corpse parts that may have been taken by dingos. In their search, Azaria’s matinee jacket was discovered near a dingo cave. The finding of the jacket led to Lindy’s unexpected release, and she was later given $1.3 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment. A fourth and final inquest into Azaria’s murder was conducted in 2012, and it was officially announced that her death was the result of a dingo assault. It was noted during this inquest three cases of children being fatally attacked by dingos had been reported since Azaria’s incident. 

Forty years later, Lindy announces she is still insulted by those who doubt her innocence, including some who mimic a dingo’s howl when they cross her way. 

The incident led to the film A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill as Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, respectively. The film featured Streep crying “The dingo’s got my baby!” in a false Australian tone. Popular culture has often repeated this iconic line, with reiterations and translating being found in The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Rugrats Movie, among others.