Lindy and Michael Chamberlain at Ayers Rock (Uluru).
Camera IconLindy and Michael Chamberlain at Ayers Rock (Uluru). Credit: Supplied, Barry O’Brien

Outback tragedy: Former Advertiser photographer Barry O’Brien on the Azaria Chamberlain case

Barry O'BrienThe Advertiser

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FORMER Advertiser photographer Barry O’Brien came to know Lindy and Michael Chamberlain well through his coverage of the disappearance of their daughter Azaria. Following the death of Michael this week, O’Brien reflects on the case — and the husband and wife at its heart.

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IT was 3.30am in the Alice Springs airport. The Advertiser journalist Kym Tilbrook and I were waiting for the “red eye” flight to take us back to Adelaide after a somewhat gruelling first session of the inquest into the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain.

Like seemingly the majority of Australians, I had gone to the first inquest with the preconceived idea that the couple must be guilty of Azaria’s murder. However it only took a few days of the inquest to convince me they were telling the truth.

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While photographing each witness as they left court, I asked the questions I wanted answers for. Questions Ashley Macknay, counsel assisting Denis Barritt, the coroner, may not have asked. “Were they (witnesses) Seventh Day Adventists?” “Did either parent, or anyone else, disappear for a while when they could have disposed of the body?”

“Did they know the Chamberlains prior to meeting them at Ayers Rock?” All negative answers, so no conspiracy or sacrifice plot as was doing the rounds.

After receiving a “cool” reception from the Chamberlains the first few days of the inquest, gradually we started talking photography.

Both Lindy and Michael were very keen — and very good — photographers, with Michael harbouring a desire to be a professional photographer. They were keen to show me pictures they had taken and permitted me to have a cute one of Azaria for publication.

Barry O'Brien pictured with Lindy Chamberlain
Camera IconBarry O'Brien pictured with Lindy Chamberlain Credit: Supplied

As we waited for the 3.30am “red eye” Michael and Lindy entered the terminal building to wait for their flight to Sydney. Michael started talking about the merits of different lenses.

During a lull in the conversation he gazed into the distance, deep in thought and offered: “You know, this case could go down in history as one of the strangest of all time.”

As soon as he turned away I jotted it down as it seemed an odd thing to say. How right he was!

Lindy and Michael were advised to show no emotion when entering or leaving the courthouse.

If they smiled they would be labelled heartless and uncaring, if they were serious or were seen to shed a tear it would be thought to be a show or put on. They couldn’t win. So, the bland look — the same look every day. And then they were criticised for not showing emotion!

One day I photographed Lindy smiling. It was a lovely picture, but she pleaded with me not to use it, so I didn’t submit it.

After Christmas, the inquest adjourned to Ayers Rock — a logistical nightmare for photographers and journalists trying to get pictures and stories to a world hungry for every word written and frame taken. There were only two radio-telephones connecting Ayers Rock to the outside world and they weren’t suitable for sending photographs.

The Advertiser had a plane standing by to rush film to Alice Springs where it would be processed and the pictures sent to the morning dailies I was covering for.

Michael with daughter Kahlia on a visit to a Darwin crocodile farm.
Camera IconMichael with daughter Kahlia on a visit to a Darwin crocodile farm. Credit: Supplied, Barry O’Brien

A visit to the Ayers Rock campsite was arranged for the court to observe lighting at approximately the same time as Azaria disappeared. (Even though this was January and Azaria disappeared in August)

When Lindy and Michael saw the campsite for the first time since the disappearance, Lindy showed distressed emotion for the only time. For a split second she let her guard down as she put her hand to her mouth and her little finger pulled down her bottom lip. I got it!

The film was handed to the pilot who rushed the film the 450km back to The Alice for processing.

Approaching deadlines and with editors screaming down the line for the picture, the one emotion charged picture was missed. The one picture that could have shown the trauma she was going through was not used.

All news outlets were looking for different angles in a very competitive environment. I learned that Michael enjoyed a game of tennis so arranged a court, racquets and balls and he agreed to a game with the proviso there were no cameras.

Of course I took my camera, but kept it hidden.

Michael, Kym Tilbrook and I played a few sets and when I thought the time was right, produced the camera. Michael didn’t object and I had an exclusive.

Although wary of the media and for good reason, including me, I think the first inquest was a bit of a game for Michael. Not so Lindy. Lindy suffered from migraine headaches and was emotionally “spent” at the end of each day.

I didn’t attend the second inquest due to illness.

Lindy and Azaria Chamberlain
Camera IconLindy and Azaria Chamberlain Credit: Supplied

At the trial in Darwin, Lindy and Michael were advised, not only to have bland, expressionless faces, but to look straight ahead and have no eye contact. I don’t ever remember either of them looking at me. Every morning when the car arrived at the courthouse they briskly walked past the media throng. Unlike movie portrayals, generally speaking the couple were given plenty of room to move as we tried to respect their space.

There was not enough seating in court for all the reporters covering the trial, so the case was videoed and relayed to a specially set-up room in another building.

All the facial expressions coming-into and leaving-court looked the same.

Lindy and Michael would set their faces as they were about to leave the courthouse to encounter the barrage of cameras that followed their every step. I heard the term “cold-faced bitch” used more than once by watching public.

I studied Lindy closely, noticing she “put on her face” the moment the doors opened. The day she gave evidence, she was totally drained and spent a lot of time in the side room recovering. I began taking pictures the second the doors started to open and captured an exclusive picture before she “set her face”. She really looked like she had been put through the wringer.

On Sunday evenings, the media gathered around the swimming pool at the Hotel Darwin to let off a bit of steam at the weekly barbecue. With the verdict imminent, our last gathering was one of reflection over the last weeks’ happenings and the trial in general.

The thoughts of all were unanimous — there is absolutely no way they can be found guilty, was the verdict of highly experienced journalists who had listened to every word of the lengthy trial.

But in the corner, listening intently to our conversation was a former Adelaide man, now a press secretary to an NT cabinet minister.

“I can tell you the verdict now,” he announced quietly. “They will find her guilty.”

We scoffed at this outrageous suggestion. “How do you figure that?”

“Territory thinking. This is a Territory jury and they know that is the verdict the government wants.”

There was tension in the steamy Darwin air when the jury retired to deliberate. Photographers and TV camera crews settled in for a lengthy wait, playing a few games of hand tennis on the pavement.

But in no time at all a court official with a face drained of colour came out to speak to us.

“The jury’s back.” Then after a lengthy pause: “It’s guilty.”

“Don’t give us that,” we laughed.

“I’m not kidding.” One look at his ashen face convinced us this was no joke.

The courtroom doors burst open and startle-faced reporters rushed out to file stories.

Lindy was sentenced to life imprisonment that night, but Michael had to return the next morning.

He was like a drunken man in a trance as his legs crossed as he stumbled in to the courthouse.

Solicitor Stuart Tipple had to support him. He was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.

Later that day I photographed Michael visiting Lindy in Berrimah jail, another exclusive as all other media had been warned not to loiter in the precincts of the jail. I was warned too, but just as I was about to be removed, Michael appeared.

Lindy Chamberlain leaves the Darwin Courthouse in the back of a police car heading to Berrimah Gaol 29 Oct 1982.
Camera IconLindy Chamberlain leaves the Darwin Courthouse in the back of a police car heading to Berrimah Gaol 29 Oct 1982. Credit: News Corp Australia, Barry O’Brien

The next time I saw Michael was when I was in Darwin on another assignment and bumped into him in the mall. We had a good chat and went to a Chinese restaurant for a meal that night. I arranged to take a photograph of him with Kahlia at the crocodile farm where they were paying a visit the next day.

I persuaded him to tell me what time he was visiting Lindy in jail. He promised to sit on a bench outside with Lindy, but although I was in place in a hiding spot in the blazing sun, he didn’t show — nor the next day as I waited in the car in fearful heat.

The next day as I was returning from my other assignment, I made a quick detour to the jail hiding place and, lo and behold, Michael and Lindy were sitting at the bench; Lindy with her back to me. It didn’t make a very good picture until Kahlia climbed on to the table which made it a little interesting.

After Lindy was released, Michael, Lindy, Aiden, Reagan and Kahlia visited our home in Gawler. I arranged Grand Prix tickets for the couple and to cap it off, a walk down pit straight. A media throng accompanied them and later I apologised. “No need,” said Michael. “Have to keep in front of the public.”

Michael regularly rang me to discuss lenses and talk photography in general. One day he excitedly called to say he had an interview with a Sydney newspaper with the view to becoming a newspaper photographer. He asked my advice and for any hints I could give him.

In 1995, a third inquest failed to determine the cause of Azaria’s death, resulting in an open finding.

Michael Chamberlain, father of baby Azaria Chamberlain, trying to relax by playing tennis between sittings of the inquest in Alice Springs into his daughter's death.
Camera IconMichael Chamberlain, father of baby Azaria Chamberlain, trying to relax by playing tennis between sittings of the inquest in Alice Springs into his daughter's death. Credit: News Corp Australia, Barry O’Brien

As I set myself to photograph the arrival of Michael, Lindy and husband Rick Creighton — who she met on a speaking tour in the United States in 1992, a year after her divorce from Michael — I was pushed and shoved by a throng of unruly cameramen and reporters shoving microphones in Lindy’s face.

How things had changed. Lindy was the target and Michael was unceremoniously shoved out of the way into a flower garden.

Michael was staying at the same hotel as me and we bumped into each other in the lifts. I tried to say hello, but he turned away and said, “I’ve been told not to talk to you.”

Presumably he had a magazine deal going. We never spoke again.

I have kept in touch with Lindy and husband Rick. My wife and I stayed with them in Seattle when they lived there and they have stayed with us in Gawler.

Lindy visits Adelaide occasionally to give talks and we usually catch up.

On a visit last year, we went to a West Lakes restaurant. I could see an older waiter eyeing Lindy. Eventually he came up and said: “I know your face, but I can’t think from where.”

Lindy told him to keep thinking and if he couldn’t remember she would tell him at the end of the night.

At last he had a “light bulb” moment as he remembered. “I know where I know you from,” he proudly stated. “You’re the post mistress at the post office.”

After the laughter subsided, Lindy enlightened him and he enjoyed the joke.

Barry O’Brien is a former Advertiser photographer who covered the first Azaria Chamberlain inquest and subsequent trial of Michael and Lindy Chamberlain.

Originally published as ‘The Michael Chamberlain I knew’