Lindy Chamberlain being wrongly convicted of murder is the real-life story that every Australian knows.
In August 1980, nine-week-old Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from the Chamberlain family’s campsite at Uluru, with the finger pointed at mother Lindy.
WATCH: Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story trailer
Despite Lindy and her husband Michael continually proclaiming their innocence and explaining that a dingo was the culprit behind their daughter’s disappearance, Lindy was charged with murder and given a life sentence behind bars.
Michael was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact but did not receive jail time and was left to look after their young sons Aidan (who was six when Azaria disappeared) and Reagan (aged four). Meanwhile, Lindy was heavily pregnant with their daughter Kahlia when she was sent to jail (she was later exonerated).
So how did the taxing high-profile case affect the kids? Network Ten documentary, Lindy Chamberlain: The True Story, revealed rare new insights into the impact the incident had on the family.
In scenes set to airing in the two-part series, Lindy, now 72, became visibly emotional as she recalled one of the witnesses, Judy West, approaching her eldest son Aidan after Azaria vanished.
Lindy recalled Judy telling her, “You were out searching and there was no one around to ask and I saw Aidan standing behind the tent and I went up and I said, ‘Has the dingo taken your baby?’”
The response from the child was heartbreaking.
“She said I can’t believe I asked a child that and he turned and looked at me and said, ‘The dingo’s got our baby in its tummy.’ And she said there was no question as to did he know what was happening,” Lindy revealed.
The impact his sister’s disappearance and death had on Aidan would remain long after leaving the campsite, something that Lindy and Michael weren’t aware of for some time after.
“For years, we didn’t know that he blamed himself for not zipping up the tent. He didn’t realise the zip was broken,” Lindy said. “But it would have made no difference, they were smart enough to get in.”
The devastation and pain felt by Aidan and his younger brother Reagan later manifested itself in other ways including fights and bullying at school.
“There were a few fights that I got into thanks to various things said, like ‘baby killer’ or ‘murderer’ – that sort of nonsense. Or ‘dingo’s got my baby’ comments or even people spitting,” Reagan admitted of his tormentors.
He added: “Aidan and I used to take out a lot of frustrations on each other. We would wrestle to pin each other, punch to bruise. There’s a lot of somewhat destructive things that we did to each other.”
Meanwhile, their younger sister Kahlia who was born just two days into Lindy’s life sentence in prison, had her own burdens to bear.
Lindy had been taken under guard to a nearby hospital to give birth to Kahlia and although Michael and her sons were nearby, they were not allowed to be present during the delivery. After Kahlia was born, Lindy was given just one hour to spend with her before she was taken away.
With Michael struggling with the demands of appealing Lindy’s case and two young boys to look after, he wasn’t able to also look after Kahlia and she was instead appointed foster families.
Despite not being initially raised by her biological parents, Kahlia admitted that she liked her foster families, and it was “really, really positive” experience for her.
However, there was a sad memory she had as a child that she wasn’t able to shake.
“Once when I was little I was very upset that she wouldn’t have had me if Azaria hadn’t died because I was the replacement baby because she’d lost her daughter,” Kahlia recalled.
“That was one of those moments that she was really upset because she always wanted four kids. She always wanted four children, she was just upset that now she only had three.”
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