I can’t understand, but I can guess why the Chamberlains don’t want to ever let this rest. They are the victims of great injustice at the hands of this nation.

But go easy on Meryl Streep. She is a multiple Oscar winner. She wasn’t attempting a typical Australian accent but a particular idiolect, which I think was part New Zealand, part Queensland, and perhaps just part Chamberlain.

Thanks for the article.

"The Azaria Chamberlain case recurs because it taps into Australian psychological insecurities." -the author

What insecurity is that?? I thought the case recurred because the Chamberlains keep bringing it back to court but then again I could be missing something..

Binoy needs to find something better to write about, and definitely something more within his ambit of knowledge than this poor and essentially demeaning caricature of Australia and our Australian culture. (Maybe he needs to get out in the bush a bit more before he goes barking up the wrong tree.)

As for the case. Binoy is probably right that this inquest is unlikely to reach a definite conclusion as to Azaria's fate - though it is more than likely that a dingo did take her, and she was then consumed, with scant remains to be found. I have seen many residues of cow and calf carcases consumed by dingo-crosses shortly after consumption, and there isn't much left - just bits of hide and chewed bones - and that's of cow or calf carcases remember. Baby's bones would be consumed completely, without trace - even of the skull.

As for more recent evidence of dingo attacks, particularly at Fraser Island, these are most likely due to the particular critters losing their natural fear of humans over time, by acclimatising to their particular environment. Hence, relevance to the prior situation at Uluru can only be indicative, and not definitive.

Full- or near-full-blood dingos in the open bush have a healthy fear of humans, and usually head for the hills at the sight of us. Feral crosses though can exhibit disdain and disregard, and have even attacked farm dogs in their kennels and farmers on horseback. These are a real worry.

I am sorry for Lindy and Michael for what they have suffered, and because there will always be uncertainty about this case, possibly because of failures by the investigating authorities at the time of Azaria's disappearance. Nothing can now overcome that lost opportunity. (We should also note, adults and even aeroplanes have gone missing in our bush, without trace - even after extensive, and even years, of searching.)

A dose of saltpetre applied with reasonable accuracy.