Sara Everingham reported this story on Friday, February 24, 2012 18:30:00

MARK COLVIN: Thirty-two years on, a coroner's court in the Northern Territory has heard that nine-week-old baby Azaria Chamberlain was probably taken by a dingo.



The baby disappeared from a tent at Uluru in 1980 and the case saturated Australia's media for years.



The fourth inquest into Azaria Chamberlain's death opened in Darwin this morning. Azaria's mother, Lindy, says she's optimistic that the coroner will find that a dingo was responsible for the death.



Sara Everingham reports from Darwin.



SARA EVERINGHAM: Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and now former husband Michael Chamberlain were both in the coroner's court today.



A large media pack was anxious to hear their thoughts at the end of the brief hearing.



LINDY CHAMBERLAIN-CREIGHTON: I’m hoping I can read my own writing here. I'd like to thank the Northern Territory Attorney-General, I'm not sure whether she's still sitting or not, but Delia Lawrie for her initial intentions of looking into the finding on the case which allowed Mr Tipple to put in submissions which re-opened this inquest.



And I’m grateful for the professional way that this particular coroner and her counsel and assistants handling the facts involved a very professional way.



SARA EVERINGHAM: Michael Chamberlain echoed that sentiment.



MICHAEL CHAMBERLAIN: Ladies and gentlemen I wish to tell you today that I am grateful and I am satisfied about the way this coronial inquest has been conducted.



SARA EVERINGHAM: It was on august the 17th August 1980 at a camping ground near Uluru when Lindy Chamberlain cried out that a dingo had taken her baby.



But in 1982 a jury found Mrs Chamberlain guilty of Azaria's murder and she was sentenced to life imprisonment.



A Royal Commission eventually quashed the Chamberlains’ convictions. A third inquest, 17 years ago, left an open finding on the cause of Azaria's death.



Outside court today Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton said she hoped this fourth inquest would now confirm a dingo had been responsible for the death. She wants Azaria's death certificate to reflect that.



LINDY CHAMBERLAIN-CREIGHTON: It gives me hope this time that Australians will finally be warned and realise that dingoes are a dangerous animal and I also hope that this will give a final finding which closes the inquest into my daughter's death which so far has been standing open and unfinished.



SARA EVERINGHAM: In court the Chamberlains’ lawyer, Stuart Tipple said in the past mistakes had been made, but the purpose of this inquest was to hear new evidence of dingo attacks.



Stuart Tipple told the court that in the Chamberlain trial, prosecutor Ian Barker QC had told the jury the dingo story was preposterous.



Today Stuart Tipple said, "Your honour the wheel has turned. I suggest to you, with the additional material, you can confidently come to the finding on the balance of probabilities that the murder theory is preposterous."



The Council assisting the coroner, Rex Wilde QC, told the court, "That even the evidence that existed back in 1995 was already balanced in the favour of a dingo attack."



He told the coroner, "With the additional evidence I submit you should accept on the balance of probabilities the dingo theory is the correct one."



The new evidence is information from the Chamberlains’ lawyer relating to 14 dingo attacks, almost all of them have happened since the previous inquest.



He also said that in Queensland between 1990 and 2011 there had been more than 200 instances of injury from dingoes.



Outside court he said these attacks need more attention.



STUART TIPPLE: This is part of the problem is that people are shocked when you actually see those numbers because they don't get the publicity and the fact is that they just haven't been reported.



SARA EVERINGHAM: There were more warnings about dingoes in the statements to the court from the Chamberlains.



In a statement read by Stuart Tipple, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton said, "The open finding was unsatisfactory." But she said the inquest was not just about Lindy or Michael getting their own way.



She said, "This is the only way I know to let Australians know dingoes are dangerous. Although I believe them to be beautiful creatures, they are not shy, they are sly, cunning and strong. They are wild animals that do what comes naturally to wild animals."



Michael Chamberlain stood and addressed the court from the counsel's table. Choking back tears he told about how he and his wife had their daughter stolen from their tent and killed by a dingo.



He said, "I've had an abiding fear and paranoia about safety around dingoes. They send a shudder up my spine."



He said, "Although dingoes deserve a place in the wild, children and dingoes are a toxic mix."



Coroner Elizabeth Morris has now adjourned the inquest to consider her findings.



The Chamberlains today seemed optimistic the inquest will put an end to a 30 year ordeal.



MARK COLVIN: Sara Everingham.