of it. Why on earth she would have done that was a matter of intense speculation. Perhaps the baby had been deformed. Perhaps it had been a human sacrifice, something to do with their religion.
Intense publicity sharpened curiosity, along with the reactions of both parents who appeared on television struck the public as odd. They had not reacted in the way grief-stricken, traumatised parents were expected to react. Lindy’s seemingly clinical, dispassionate account of how the dingo might have eaten her baby – “peeling it as you would an orange” – did her and her husband no good at all. Denis Barritt, the coroner found that a dingo had taken the baby. The death certificate filed out soon afterwards said: “Inquest held 20 February 1981 D.J. Barritt Coroner. [Cause of death] severe crushing to the base of the skull and neck and lacerations to the throat and neck.”
Barritt had decided to deliver his verdict on national television, because he felt that the hysteria which had given rise to such ugly rumours should be put to rest for good. But he had not succeeded. Barritt’s finding, that a dingo was responsible for Azaria’s disappearance and death also included a finding that there had been “human intervention” in relation to disposal of the baby’s jumpsuit, booties and nappy, found at the base of Ayers Rock a week after Azaria disappeared. He had based that particular finding on evidence that the jumpsuit appeared to have been cut by a bladed instrument. That element of his finding guaranteed, quite rightly, that the inquiry was not over. If there had been human intervention, then who was it? And why?
Tipple, as he walked along the Wyong street that September morning, wasn’t thinking about those things. Then Michael Chamberlain turned up in person, in helmet and leathers and on a motorcycle. They greeted each other and chatted for a time. Inevitably they had talked about the events at Ayers Rock and the inquest. At the end of the conversation, Chamberlain said: “Well, if I ever need a lawyer ….”
Michael Chamberlain returned to Avondale College, where he and Lindy had taken up residence after the coroner’s inquest. Though they had been exonerated over the loss of the baby, that terrible event, the rumour and innuendo and the inquest already affected them. It was considered appropriate that Michael Chamberlain leave his posting as an SDA pastor at Mt Isa in western Queensland and return to Cooranbong where he and Lindy could do some more study. Michael intended to do a Master’s degree in physical education through Andrews University, an SDA establishment in Michigan, USA. With Michael and Lindy were their sons, Aidan, six, and Reagan, four, both of whom had been through the trauma at Ayers Rock.
On Saturday, 18th September 1981, about two weeks after the meeting between Tipple and Michael Chamberlain in Wyong, the storm clouds burst. It started at 8.10 am when police knocked on the Chamberlains’ door at Avondale College and Aidan opened it. At the same time, police swooped on the homes of people, in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania, who had been witnesses on the night of 17th August 1980 and whose testimony had supported the dingo story. Armed with new scientific evidence and an expert opinion that the baby had in fact been murdered, probably by having its throat cut, the police were on the hunt.
The evidence they were now looking for would come from the Chamberlain’ home, and their 1977-model yellow Torana Hatchback. They picked up the Torana at a Central Coast repair shop. What the primary witnesses had said of the events on the night was now to be reviewed. The police took more than 400 items from the Chamberlains’ home. They picked up a camera bag which they thought Michael had taken to Ayers Rock. Michael told them it was not the right one and gave them the bag he had taken. The seized items were packed up and sent to the NSW Health Department Division of Forensic Medicine for analysis. Working there was Joy Kuhl, a Master of Science, who was briefed to do the analysis.
News of the raids leaked out and media helicopters started buzzing over the Chamberlains’ home at Cooranbong. Michael and Lindy telephoned Jim Cox, who immediately thought of Stuart Tipple. He was unable to reach Tipple just then but he had an instinctive belief in him.
In Alice Springs, Denis Barritt received a telephone call from the NT Solicitor-General, Peter Tiffin, telling him that new evidence had come forward and that Barritt’s findings were to be quashed and they had briefed a barrister to represent him. Barritt immediately contacted the barrister, Michael Maurice. He told Maurice he had not been acquainted with the content of any new evidence that might have been available. Barritt said Michael and Lindy Chamberlain ought to have the opportunity to be represented. He had no objection to his findings being set aside if fresh evidence became available, provided it could not have been discovered by due diligence before his own inquiry. Maurice was informed he could not have access to the new information unless he would undertake not to disclose it to Barritt. Maurice felt duty-bound as counsel to discuss all material with his client. Being unable to do this, he withdrew from the case. Barritt’s court orderly, Bill Barnes, might have been a little disappointed by the turn of events. He had caught a bucketing from officialdom after Barritt’s inquest for presenting the departing Chamberlains with a bouquet of flowers. (Not done, old chap! Court officers must be seen to be detatched!)
In Tasmania, Sally Lowe, who had met Michael and Lindy Chamberlain at the barbecue area of Ayers Rock on the night Azaria disappeared – and had testified that she had heard the baby cry after Lindy took her away and had returned to the barbecue area – was now under intense pressure in the renewed investigation. Under special scrutiny was how long Lindy had been away from the barbecue area. That was now a critical question, because on a possible scenario now being taken seriously by police, Lindy had used her time away from the barbecue area to kill the baby, possibly by slashing its throat. She had then on that scenario secreted the body, washed her hands, changed her clothes and come back to act as though nothing had happened. Then, she had acted out a charade pretending she had seen a dingo take her baby.
Sally Lowe told Tipple later that when interviewed by the police, she had said Lindy had been away from the barbecue area for “a few minutes”. The police officer had said: “Surely it would have taken that long just to walk there and back.” The police officer had suggested Lindy might have been away “10 or even 15 minutes, or longer”. Sally had said Lindy might have taken a few minutes to get to the tent and to put the baby to bed. The police officer had said: “Was it 10 or 15 minutes?” Sally said: “Well, I knew it was not as long as 15 minutes, it was less than 10 minutes.” Sally told Tipple. “And so, it went on, until I finally agreed to six to 10 minutes.” The questioning had made Sally Lowe feel very uncomfortable. “Not wishing to go back on anything I had made in a statement, I felt it best to say – ‘a very short time’,” she said.
On Sunday 19th September 1981, the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister and Attorney-General, Paul Everingham, announced that a new investigation had begun into the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain, based on a report by leading British pathologist, Professor James Malcolm Cameron, using technology not available in Australia. Cameron had concluded, from an examination of the baby’s jumpsuit, that the child had been murdered, possibly by someone slitting its throat, and possibly holding it upright while the deed was done. It was later to emerge that there had been an extraordinary effort to get evidence to support Cameron’s contention, all done in secret, with the Chamberlains blissfully unaware. Cameron had visited Australia and meeting, Paul Everingham and the NT Police Commissioner, Peter McAulay, in Brisbane. After Cameron had presented his findings, the inquiry was reopened. They had had little option. Police regrouped in a new investigation, code-named “Operation Ochre”.
Stuart Tipple received a telephone call from Lindy Chamberlain on the Sunday, 19th September. He had never met her but she had been told about him by Jim Cox and by Michael. Tipple drove the 30 minutes from Gosford to Avondale College to meet the Chamberlains in the couple’s small and very cluttered cottage. Peter Dean, who had represented the Chamberlains at the coroner’s inquest, had flown from Alice Springs and was already there. The Chamberlains were, naturally enough, stunned by what was happening. They were, Tipple said later, “in a state of disbelief”. “I suppose like anything you wonder what is going to happen next,” Tipple recalled years later. “You wonder what sort of people they
