The Dingo Baby-Snatcher

Rerun. When two month-old Azaria Chamberlain was taken from her tent by a dingo on the night of August 17th, 1980, the majority of the Australian public believed that her mother, Lindy Chamerlain, had done the deed herself.

Prosecuting authorities charged her with murder. She was imprisoned, but in 2012, a coroner found Azaria’s death was “the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo”.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask why the Australian public were so inclined to disbelieve Lindy’s version of events; revisit the injustices perpetrated against the Chamberlains; and consider how on Earth the phrase ‘A Dingo’s Got My Baby!’ became a comedy meme… 

Content Warning: Includes detailed description of true crime and harm against children

Further Reading:

• ‘Horrifying story of Lindy Chamberlain – jailed for murder after her baby daughter was ‘eaten by a dingo’ on camping trip’ (The Sun, 2020): https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/13418625/lindy-chamberlain-jailed-murder-baby-dingo/

• ‘The Messed Up True Story Of “A Dingo Got My Baby”’ (Grunge, 2020): https://www.grunge.com/291293/the-messed-up-true-story-of-a-dingo-got-my-baby/

• ‘Lindy Chamberlain Reflects On The Horror Of Losing Baby Azaria’ (The Project, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2PV4kD5-dg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Ftheretrospectors.com%2F&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE&feature=emb_title

Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY!

Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast.

Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

podfollow.com/Retrospectors

 

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices