ABSTRACT
The disappearance of baby Azaria Chamberlain from her family's tent at Uluru (then known as Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory in 1980 quickly became a national sensation. While her parents and other campers gave evidence that supported the involvement of a dingo, people around the country and juries in subsequent investigations preferred to blame her mother Lindy, with the father as an accomplice. This chapter examines the evidence in the Chamberlain case to investigate why some people are quickly condemned when accused of a crime, even if they have no prior connections with criminality. It provides an explanation of why the death of Azaria Chamberlain and the trials of her parents attracted so much attention as the case played out over many decades. Finally, and serving as a conclusion to the book, this chapter reflects on the likelihood that a proportion of the others convicted of crimes in Australian history were similarly innocent and offer final reflections on the inappropriateness of imagining that those convicted of crimes constituted a discreet Australia underworld.
