Inquest told of dingo attacks

AN INQUEST into the death of Azaria Chamberlain who disappeared from Central Australia in 1980 has heard gruesome evidence of recent dingo attacks.

AN INQUEST into the death of Azaria Chamberlain who disappeared from Central Australia in 1980 has heard gruesome evidence of recent dingo attacks.

Information about dingo attacks on Fraser Island played a vital role in opening a fourth inquest into the infamous case.

Save Fraser Island Dingoes Inc spokeswoman Karin Kilpatrick said she knew of many experts who had made submissions to the NT Coroners Office.

The hearing before Northern Territory coroner Elizabeth Morris was held after Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, Azaria's mother, successfully sought the inquest in a bid to change Azaria's death from "unknown" to reflect that a dingo killed her.

Amid tears, Azaria's father Michael Chamberlain told the courtroom that people needed to be warned of the danger of dingoes.

Counsel for Azaria's parents, Stuart Tipple, told the courtroom there had never been any motive put forward to support allegations Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton had killed Azaria.

Rex Wild, QC, who was counsel assisting the coroner, said he agreed a dingo was now the most likely cause of Azaria's death.

"It (a dingo killing a child) may have been regarded as unlikely in 1980 or 1986/87 or 1995 (but) it shouldn't be by 2011/12," he said.

Nine-week-old Azaria disapp- eared from a campsite at Uluru in 1980, and her parents have always maintained a dingo killed the little girl. Court hearings in the 1980s convicted Mrs Chamberlain, as she was then known, of murder and her then husband Michael Chamberlain of being an accessory after the fact.

A royal commission in 1987 exonerated both parents.

In 1988 the NT Court of Criminal Appeals overturned all convictions against the couple.

Despite the charges against the Chamberlains being dropped, a coronial inquest into the disappearance of Azaria in 1995 delivered an open verdict.

When the Chronicle went to press, Ms Morris was yet to hand down her findings in relation to the death of Azaria.

Originally published as Inquest told of dingo attacks