It’s a horrible story that became a cultural sensation after Meryl Streep portrayed an Australian mother convicted and later cleared of having murdered her daughter, though she always claimed the infant had been carried off by dingoes as the family camped near Uluru (Ayers Rock). Due to the family’s unusual and fervent religious beliefs and stoic disposition, public opinion turned against them so far as to imagine they’d sacrificed their child in a devlish rite of some kind. At long last, over thirty years later, the coroner agrees with the mother’s story. According to this Associated Press article at TwinCities.com:
No similar dingo attack had been documented at the time, but in recent years the wild dogs have been blamed for three fatal attacks on children.
“No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and only attack if provoked,” Chamberlain-Creighton said before leaving the court with her ex-husband and their three surviving children to collect Azaria’s death certificate, which states the newly confirmed cause of death.
“We live in a beautiful country, but it is dangerous and we would ask all Australians to beware of this and take appropriate precautions,” Chamberlain-Creighton said.
As awful at the story was, and as glad we are that it’s finally resolved legally, and despite the fact Streep never said these exact words in the film, we’re ashamed to admit we just can’t forget laughing at this.
You’re saying a version of it to yourself right now, too, aren’t you?
Image via CBSingapore blog.