Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, Azaria’s mother, marked the anniversary by releasing a public letter, requesting that the Northern Territory government put a cause of death on her daughter’s death certificate (which currently has an ‘unknown’ cause).
It seems incredible that 30 years have gone by! I still remember where I was when I first heard the news. I was on the train on the way home from school (after, of all things, a late afternoon Latin class). Someone got on with a copy of the evening paper, and it was all over the front page. Within minutes everyone in the carriage was agog, talking about it.
I remember my parents talking about this. I thought they found the body and the wounds weren’t consistent with teeth marks? Or am I confusing this with something else?
I was in the queue at work, lined up to collect our pay, I was reading the front page story in the paper and said, “Oh, bullshit, the mother probably killed the kid. My mate has a pet dingo and I don’t think it could carry a chicken away, let alone a baby.”
I was always sure that she did it but when the trial took place there was no way that I could have found her guilty.
I was three when Azaria disappeared so I guess I don’t remember that, but I do remember the coverage of the trial and retrial in the years that followed. I’ve believed Lindy was innocent since I was old enough to form an opinion on the case. I’ve never been able to laugh at “a dingo’s got my baby” jokes, as I’ve discussed on these boards before, because I still find it so tragic. Losing a child is a terrible ordeal for any family, but the Chamberlains suffered so much more than most.
When you think about it, it is really sick to make “dingo’s got my baby” jokes because a baby did die and that would be horrible for any family to experience. But I blame the name of the animal. If it were just a wild dog people wouldn’t have found it humorous but dingo is a funny, cutesy name and people unfamiliar with the animal don’t find it that threatening sounding.
I also blame all the initial speculation that it wasn’t the dingo and people found it okay to mock it.
Sorry, but people make jokes about tragedy, death, and dying all the time. Showtime has a new series called The C Word that they call a “cancer comedy,” which follows Laura Linney as she copes with a fatal melanoma.
As a matter of fact, I almost made the “dingo ate my baby” joke just this morning in Cafe Society (not even realizing this was the 30th anniversary), in a post about Neil Patrick Harris’ expected twins, where I was a bit cranky and the joke was going to be my excuse.
I get why its funny and I get why people would be uncomfortable with it.
I also have to think about that family… 10-15 years later later watching the new episode of “Seinfeld” and hearing a reference to their personal heartbreak and then a laugh track. That’s awful. Just horrible.
I wonder to people warn them? Is it on their radar to look for that kind of thing? Like a friend of the family has an American cousin who calls and says “Hey, tell the Chamberlains not to watch the episode of Seinfeld where…”
You’re probably right. And it went way beyond speculation- the parents were convicted of murder and the mother spent three years in jail. It sounds like the cops and later the prosecutors were locked into their murder theory and couldn’t bring themselves to consider the possibility the parents hadn’t killed her. Even before the jacket was discovered it was an iffy case that relied partly on chemical testing that was discredited later on.
I’m appreciative of you providing this reminder and of Annie’s link, the update of which I hadn’t realized. So overwhelming evidence was found and the parents were exonerated… I had no idea. Fascinating… in a most horrible, tragic way. I can’t imagine a more awful experience for a parent to endure.
It was before my time (I was born in 1990) but it’s such a part of Australian culture/recent history I’d be surprised if there was anyone my age who wasn’t at least aware of what happened. My mother has the book that Lindy wrote (“Through My Eyes”?), and every few years something new about it seems to pop up on the news. I do remember that the first time I was aware of it was when Elaine made the joke on that episode of Seinfeld (it was The Stranded, where Jerry & Elaine are stuck at a party and the annoying woman keeps going on about her “fiancé”).
I don’t really find “dingo ate my baby” jokes funny, but that’s more to do with the fact that the quote is usually paired with a very, very bad Australian accent. And also, you know, dingoes eating babies isn’t really a very humourous situation.
Five years ago, a woman claimed to have been Azaria Chamberlain. This shows how factual reporting can still be a load of horse hockey. The woman claimed to be Chamberlain, although from all indications, editors knew this story was bogus. Unfortunately, I can’t find any pics, and that was the most fun part of the story.
Why wouldn’t a dingo be able to carry something like that? They’re a mid sized canine, about 20 to 40 pounds. They can take down cattle together but you don’t think a dingo can manage to carry a tiny helpless baby?
Now I feel really bad for all the times I laughed at the Seinfeld joke. I had no idea it was based on a real, horrific, unjust incident. I thought it was some stupid shit made up for the show. Poor woman.