A New Zealander caught up in one of Australia's biggest miscarriages of justice - the Azaria Chamberlain case - has donated a key piece of evidence to the National Museum in Canberra.
Uluru (Ayers Rock), where a dingo took baby Azaria Chamberlain 34 years ago. Photo: AFP
Michael Chamberlain, originally from Christchurch, has donated the 1977 V8 Torana hatchback he and his Whakatane-born wife, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, took on holiday to Uluru (Ayers Rock), in Central Australia, 34 years ago.
Their baby, Azaria, was taken by a dingo from a camping ground and her body never found.
But Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton was found guilty of her murder in 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment. At one point during her trial, prosecutors alleged Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton sat in the car and cut off the baby's head with a pair of nail scissors, causing a spray of arterial blood into the foot well, the ABC reports.
Mr Chamberlain has donated the car to Australia's National Museum.
The purported forensic evidence in the car was later discredited but it still took a Royal Commission to quash Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton's conviction and have her released from jail after serving three years.
An Australian coroner in 2012 found a dingo was responsible for Azaria's death.
Mr Chamberlain said the car was not a memorial to Azaria because her death had nothing to do with the car.
"Her death was something entirely separate, away from the car. But it is a commemoration of justice, of the case, of the Azaria saga; it's a commemoration of justice, but I would never call it a memorial of Azaria."
Mr Chamberlain said the car should remind people not to give up.
"When things go wrong and if you know you're innocent, and if you know you're right, don't give up. Because, a re-examination, if you're in the right, will reveal it - ultimately. And this is a symbol of what happens if you hang onto things long enough, if you're in the right, the truth shall make you free."