Michael Chamberlain

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Dr Michael Chamberlain (born 1944) is an Australian teacher and former pastor, best known due to the disappearance of his daughter Azaria whilst on holidays near Uluru. He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand to Ivan and Greta Chamberlain.

Michael's parents were very religious - his father a Methodist, his mother a Baptist. His mother, Greta became a Seventh-day Adventist. Michael converted at age 21, later entering the ministry.

In 1969 he married Lindy Murchison. They had four children - Aidan (born October 2, 1973), Reagan (born April 16, 1976), Azaria (born June 11, 1980), and Kahlia (born November 17, 1982).

Their third child, Azaria, disappeared while on a camping holiday on August 17, 1980 at Uluru. The parents claimed that a dingo had taken Azaria. Lindy was convicted of her murder and given a life sentence; Michael was convicted of being an accessory after the fact, and was given an eighteen-month suspended sentence. Lindy was released from jail in 1986, after new evidence came to light that she did not in fact commit the murder. The Chamberlains were officially exonerated in 1988.

Michael and Lindy divorced in 1991, and both have since remarried. Chambelain is currently married to Ingrid Bergner, whom he married in 1994 and they have a daughter named Zahra (b. June, 1996) In recent years, Michael has written a book on Cooranbong.

He ran as a Liberal Party of Australia candidate for the New South Wales lower house in 2003. He now teaches English in rural New South Wales.

[edit] References

• The Homepage of Michael Chamberlain
• Lindy and Michael Chamberlain outside court, September 1982
• Beyond Azaria / Michael Chamberlain, Lowell Tarling (1999, ISBN 1-86350-277-7)