Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton: Faith, Forgiveness & Injustice
Click to Expand Table of Contents
Show Notes
In This Episode:
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton joins Pastor Dave for a raw and redemptive conversation about faith in the face of public injustice. From being falsely imprisoned for the death of her daughter to rebuilding life after the storm, Lindy shares what it really means to trust God when the world turns against you.
We don’t just revisit the headlines — we go deeper into her spiritual journey, emotional recovery, and her steadfast belief that God never left her side. This is an episode for anyone who has ever felt misunderstood, falsely accused, or simply worn out by life.
Key Highlights
Lindy’s honest reaction to being accused: “This is a joke, right?”
How she kept her faith in a prison cell
What forgiveness really means when people treat you like a villain
How her relationship with God deepened — not disappeared — in suffering
Why she never became bitter, despite the world’s judgment
The moment she knew she was free — spiritually and emotionally
Her thoughts on prayer, grief, and the beauty of normal life
Guest Bio
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton is one of Australia’s most recognised public figures due to her wrongful conviction in 1982 for the death of her daughter, Azaria. After serving over three years in prison, she was released and fully exonerated. Since then, Lindy has spoken widely about her journey of faith, forgiveness, and healing. She now lives a quiet life with her husband Rick Creighton, enjoying painting, sewing, and spending time with family.
Call to Action
Enjoyed this episode?
👉 Subscribe to Sunburnt Souls on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube
🙏 Support the mission of raw, real faith conversations by giving here
📘 Want more like this? Check out our short course:
Loving Life with Faith and Mental Health
→ 28 days of hope-filled, Jesus-centred practices for just $28.
Full Episode Transcript
Dave Quak
Welcome to Sunburnt Souls. On the show, we speak about life and faith and our mental wellbeing. And this week we had Lindy Chamberlain on the show. If you don't know Lindy, she was falsely accused of killing her own daughter, Azaria, at Uluru in 1980 and went to jail for a crime she never committed. Today we speak about what her life has been like, and we don't speak as much about the specifics of the crime and the trial and everything else, but we speak about what was going on in Lindsay's life, in her faith and relationship with God while she was gone through all these hard things.
00:00:34:06 - 00:00:52:22
Dave Quak
So thanks for tuning in to Sunburnt souls, and I trust you'll find this a really interesting episode. Well, Lindy Chamberlain crazy, but I'll be talking about that if you are Australian Crighton with your American husband, Rick Creighton. It is such an honor to have you on somebody and souls. Thank you.
00:00:53:00 - 00:00:54:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
It's a pleasure.
00:00:54:06 - 00:01:08:11
Dave Quak
It is my pleasure. Because I feel like I've been stalking you for the last couple of weeks in preparation, watching every inch of you, watching everything written and spoken. So I know you way more than you know me. So thank you for coming on.
00:01:08:11 - 00:01:10:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, so I don't know you. Oh.
00:01:10:18 - 00:01:11:10
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:01:11:12 - 00:01:16:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
That's easy. But is it? I'll guarantee you, you haven't seen everything now.
00:01:16:14 - 00:01:18:05
Dave Quak
No, there's always more.
00:01:18:07 - 00:01:20:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
There is.
00:01:20:04 - 00:01:32:19
Dave Quak
Lindy, I appreciate you coming on. And you have had one of those lives. Now, this is an understatement. You have had a life like you have had a life that a lot of Australia has watched and journeyed with.
00:01:32:21 - 00:01:49:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yes, most people don't live quite as publicly as I've had to. No, but I even got to ask this morning when I was talking for Breakfast Club. You know what's what's a normal life, you say? Well, pretty much like.
00:01:49:14 - 00:01:51:10
Dave Quak
Yours. Yeah.
00:01:51:12 - 00:01:52:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And they're kind of like.
00:01:52:20 - 00:01:54:06
Dave Quak
Oh, yeah.
00:01:54:08 - 00:02:21:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You know, I'm a I'm a grandma. Well, not everybody still climbs ladders and paints things at my age, but we ran a fighting the house that we bought them. Yeah, I filed the National Library, but, you know, apart from those things, I watch TV and I do the mending and my caulk and.
00:02:21:03 - 00:02:22:03
Dave Quak
Yeah, used to.
00:02:22:04 - 00:02:28:07
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Make out with friends for coffee and all the things that everybody. Yeah, most people do.
00:02:28:07 - 00:02:32:09
Dave Quak
You studied mending is your first thing I remember that was the first thing you stopped mending.
00:02:32:10 - 00:02:35:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You would study mending stones.
00:02:35:00 - 00:02:35:23
Dave Quak
Something about.
00:02:35:23 - 00:02:38:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Like, okay, I did tailoring.
00:02:38:01 - 00:02:40:09
Dave Quak
Tailoring for home. No, no.
00:02:40:10 - 00:02:44:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Body studies mending. It was like, oh my gosh, I don't.
00:02:44:02 - 00:02:45:09
Dave Quak
Know if people still mend.
00:02:45:09 - 00:02:55:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So most of them don't. But you know, I, I've always got a project that I want to do. So I'll look at something with a little reparative. Yeah.
00:02:55:22 - 00:02:56:06
Dave Quak
00:02:56:07 - 00:03:09:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Despite the fact that I promised myself when I left prison I'd never mend again. Yeah I think all night to replace. It's going to cost and I can use that money on this stage. Oh I.
00:03:09:21 - 00:03:15:03
Dave Quak
Do yeah. Yeah a lot of people are familiar with your story Lindy, but.
00:03:15:09 - 00:03:16:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well I think they. Well, they.
00:03:16:13 - 00:03:32:21
Dave Quak
Anyway, one thing I haven't been able to find is an interview that comes from the place of telling the story and considering what was happening in your spiritual life and faith as that was happening, is that I know this Christian.
00:03:32:22 - 00:03:38:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
As believers, I always ask those questions.
00:03:38:03 - 00:03:38:14
Dave Quak
You do.
00:03:38:15 - 00:03:41:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
But they always get it out.
00:03:41:23 - 00:03:44:20
Dave Quak
Okay, well, nothing's gonna get it out of this.
00:03:45:01 - 00:03:45:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You know.
00:03:45:14 - 00:03:45:20
Dave Quak
That.
00:03:46:00 - 00:04:03:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
In the end, she'll look at it and go. Maybe one of the reasons I ended up going through this is because nobody gets through to reporters.
00:04:04:01 - 00:04:05:10
Dave Quak
00:04:05:12 - 00:04:13:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They're pretty, beaten bunch. They get to see all the yuck of life.
00:04:13:23 - 00:04:14:16
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:04:14:18 - 00:04:26:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And so they're very skeptical. But they ask the question and it might not go in the interviews because it's like oh no the public wants to know this.
00:04:26:20 - 00:04:27:05
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:04:27:09 - 00:04:46:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I've said a few of them. Well the public wants to know that because they don't know this. If they knew this they'd ask questions on this. You know, what are you talking about? And I'll tell them a few things and they're like, oh, well, wait, I didn't know. So they keep going back to the same old, same old, same old.
00:04:46:20 - 00:05:11:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And a couple of years ago, I got a request from West Australian radio station. He said, oh, I love to talk about Britain. Not at all. Well, first time I ever got asked in an interview. Anyway, what, after all this time, I said nobody has ever asked this weird. And it's like, well, I am.
00:05:11:22 - 00:05:12:20
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:05:12:22 - 00:05:17:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And so we dated on that.
00:05:17:07 - 00:05:18:13
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:05:18:15 - 00:05:52:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I did do a business. Program interview with Alex O'Malley. Who's that most interesting guy? And he is, a Christian, sensible businessman. That was nine things. I mean, he he could have. Trump is a guy. Was, he did that business program. This guy's got it over him in spades.
00:05:52:22 - 00:05:56:14
Dave Quak
Okay.
00:05:56:16 - 00:06:07:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And he is a Christian. And he asked me quite a few questions, but nobody else. And he put them on. Nobody else has.
00:06:07:14 - 00:06:14:14
Dave Quak
Yeah, I think there's a hunger for it because you've actually lived a life that hasn't been perfect.
00:06:14:16 - 00:06:16:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And that's true.
00:06:16:08 - 00:06:26:07
Dave Quak
And you've kicked on in your faith. And I think that's what people need to hear in these days that are a bit tumultuous. He's like, okay, can I have faith and get through hard things? You know, I think that's about.
00:06:26:07 - 00:06:30:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
My my time. You can't get through hard things without faith.
00:06:30:04 - 00:06:31:22
Dave Quak
Okay. Yeah.
00:06:32:00 - 00:06:42:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And people's I think of faith, some airy fairy thing out there. And when something big happens, then I'll have faith.
00:06:42:16 - 00:06:44:00
Dave Quak
00:06:44:02 - 00:07:17:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
But we use faith every day. People say to me, how can you believe if that God exists? You know, God doesn't believe him. What are you doing? Believing in creation. You know, that's science has proved this and that. No it hasn't. It keeps changing every year. Oh, gee, that was outdated, you know. Now we'll update it. Something else.
00:07:17:14 - 00:07:37:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
How could you possibly believe. Oh, I turn around and say, how could you possibly believe that? Were you or the. The Bible leaned all out there and we supposedly came from some mud puddle or something else. Oh, I don't have enough faith for that.
00:07:37:01 - 00:07:37:22
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:07:38:00 - 00:07:45:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I really don't have. So you've got to have mega faith if you believe you can get.
00:07:45:20 - 00:07:46:13
Dave Quak
Something.
00:07:46:15 - 00:08:04:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
That'll. And I love the analogy of scientists say, oh boy, you can do anything you do. Go on. You know, we can make man and Lane either to get the pedal and hang on. Can I get your own? Do it. And that's the thing.
00:08:04:01 - 00:08:04:20
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:08:04:21 - 00:08:34:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
We can go. So far we've had all sorts of experiment. But to say, oh wait, the ones that keep ourselves floating in space and not exploding apart when we hold the stars and we make things grow and create things for rubbish. Yeah, yeah. I don't have the faith to believe that you've got the faith to believe. If I turn on the light which I'm going to get light.
00:08:34:23 - 00:08:35:16
Dave Quak
00:08:35:18 - 00:09:09:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I believe that. Oh, I can tell you exactly all the intricacies of electricity and how that occurs and everything else. But I know from past experience, if I go switch on the light, I'm going to get light and God's no different. You know, when you're a kid. You get faith in your parents, but watching what they do and by repetition.
00:09:09:20 - 00:09:15:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I don't know, a kid around doesn't like jumping off something and saying catch me daddy.
00:09:15:16 - 00:09:16:19
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:16:21 - 00:09:22:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And at no matter what he's doing or where he's tension is dad seems to manage to catch him.
00:09:22:16 - 00:09:23:20
Dave Quak
00:09:23:22 - 00:09:49:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You get the naive kid over there. Not could jump straight off. They don't have history but they watch cute jumping and get caught jumping and get caught. And when dad says do you want to jump too. They'll take a flying leap. Yeah because. But then yeah he catches every time he catches I can believe he's going to catch me too.
00:09:49:14 - 00:09:50:12
Dave Quak
Yeah I love that.
00:09:50:16 - 00:10:15:10
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And so God is like that. Yep. We have a little test and we prove him in the tiny little weeny things. We see if God's going to catch us. We watch him catch us next time. It's a big thing. And our faith grows. It's not. Wait till a big thing happens. Then I'm going to believe in God now.
00:10:15:10 - 00:10:16:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
He you not.
00:10:16:06 - 00:10:16:14
Dave Quak
00:10:16:15 - 00:10:58:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You do not have that faith and that confidence. And I can remember the first time as a kid going, yeah, I read all these prayer stories, and you hear about this happening, this person and that happening. That's all very well. Yeah, I firmly believe God exists. And my dad was a pastor, so I'm a P.K.. And that mix, you either believe in God or say not for me, depending on what your dad was like.
00:10:58:01 - 00:10:58:09
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:10:58:13 - 00:11:27:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Like, frankly. And so you look at it. Okay. Yeah. You know, I've heard church, I've heard it from my parents, I've read it in books and yeah, I believe it happens out there. But does God really care about me and my problems? And through no fault of his own, dad was put on sick leave for a while. He wasn't sick.
00:11:27:04 - 00:11:57:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Somebody just held a ground and did something nasty. And incidentally, within a month of doing it to my daddy, end up in prison for bad practices. However, dad had lost his job and they had to wait till another position came up. And it was about 14 months and, white was, I'll say, yeah, it was a family affair.
00:11:57:16 - 00:12:20:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And my parents put a lot of money back into the into the church and into missions and things like that. And they decided we were just pulling their belts tight. And we're not kind of go listen what we give to others. And I needed new shoes. I literally had holes in the bottom of my school shoes.
00:12:20:02 - 00:12:36:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So I was first year high school, and I learned that weight big packets were brilliantly. 2 or 3 layers of a white big packet would fill a hole for a couple of days. It's and then discard them. Get another load.
00:12:36:12 - 00:12:39:21
Dave Quak
USDA love you Weet-bix you said that they've been I.
00:12:39:21 - 00:13:13:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Actually don't I'm probably not hip. Really had weight pick since I grew up. I actually I try to have eggs for breakfast anyway. That needed glasses. He was in his 40s. And getting weight. Yeah. So not long enough to see, you know, got. So he'd got new glasses and we went to the Grampians. And he had a Bible study that afternoon, but mum and I had gone to look around.
00:13:13:18 - 00:13:19:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
My brother had left home. Well, and truly by then.
00:13:19:10 - 00:13:38:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And we got in the car. He said, rod, we need to leave. That's the last, Well, we're doing the last. Look. Can't wait. Doing. It's time to go. I need to just look up p address. No GPS is in those days. Went do it. Couldn't find his glasses.
00:13:39:00 - 00:13:40:10
Dave Quak
All right.
00:13:40:12 - 00:14:19:04
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, I had him a minute ago. Well, it must have just lost them somewhere. And we looked all through the car. We went back round this track and I'm short. I can usually go on to most things. And I had. So we walked right the way round. Right the long way back. So I twice going to look here, not there and back on the initial trip and there on back on the look for four times I hadn't had bent once and I'm sitting in the car no more thinking.
00:14:19:06 - 00:14:22:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
We got about dead new glasses. Take my shoes longer.
00:14:22:15 - 00:14:23:09
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:14:23:11 - 00:14:56:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Very selfish thought, but all right. All of a sudden it's like you to pray about this. And I'm like, right, God, I need new shoes. And if you really care about me, let me find those, because I need new shoes. Rather than him getting a second pair of glasses. And without telling my parents on pride. In fact, I didn't tell them for maybe 20 years afterwards might have been more than that.
00:14:57:01 - 00:15:22:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I said, look, I'm fast and you guys, while you're still looking around, I'm working with places. Let me run around once more and just have another look. I'm like, oh, we have to go. And it's like, sheesh, quick, just let it go. And I went right around, almost back to the car because it was one of the like a circular drive point in one.
00:15:22:22 - 00:15:50:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I thought, they haven't seen me. I'm going back again. And I said, last chance, God, turn around to go the other way. And I might have gone eight meters and a big branch slapped me right across the face. And it gave me a shock because five times round my branch, all of a sudden one rod buying.
00:15:50:08 - 00:15:51:11
Dave Quak
00:15:51:13 - 00:16:11:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And it sort of startled me and I backed off and just in the back of my head. So subconsciously I like I would I remember that, and I ducked to go under it. And as our duct tape was a crack and Ted's glasses were that the crack?
00:16:11:22 - 00:16:12:20
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:16:12:22 - 00:16:19:10
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I thought, well, dad's taller than me. He'd had to go under it every time I hadn't.
00:16:19:10 - 00:16:20:04
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:16:20:06 - 00:16:29:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So about while I was looking on the path, I didn't notice this crack that was maybe seven centimeters wide.
00:16:29:16 - 00:16:30:02
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:16:30:05 - 00:16:46:10
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And the glasses had come out of his pocket and down the crack down. And then I thought, yeah, God's like, you're not paying attention here. I'm going to wake you across the face with the branch. You have a proper look.
00:16:46:13 - 00:16:47:02
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:16:47:04 - 00:16:50:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And there they are. Oh I'm scope smacked.
00:16:50:17 - 00:16:52:15
Dave Quak
Yeah. How old were you then.
00:16:52:15 - 00:16:53:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Did you. 12.
00:16:53:11 - 00:16:54:16
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:16:54:18 - 00:17:19:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I thought to myself wow God really does care. And make sure that you ask just doesn't go oh hey it's okay. Here it is. It's like ask me specifically what you want. I know what you want, but I want you to say it out loud.
00:17:19:15 - 00:17:21:06
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:17:21:08 - 00:17:51:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And from that time on, I'm like, well, he isn't a god out there. He really is a God that cares about me and so much more. I would start talking to him specifically, not more. No, I did start talking specifically about things in my life and.
00:17:51:03 - 00:18:29:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
What he wanted me to do and where I'd go, and not worrying about, you know, what if I don't pass this exam or if I don't, that I had five high schools in six years. I was all wise catching up. And you just make friends and you move on. I find it really difficult to comprehend people that grow up in one community married someone they went to school with nothing.
00:18:29:16 - 00:18:32:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Wow. Fancy knowing someone that long.
00:18:32:14 - 00:18:33:20
Dave Quak
And then stay in the house forever.
00:18:33:20 - 00:18:36:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And that will and never moving.
00:18:36:17 - 00:18:37:22
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:18:38:00 - 00:18:56:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And, I've had, well, I've over 50 shifts in my life. Oh. Well, expert packer thoughts. Do my own packing, and it's like, it doesn't matter where you go or what you do. God is always there.
00:18:56:11 - 00:18:57:01
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:18:57:03 - 00:19:21:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And the only time you can't see God or can't feel God is when you're rushing ahead of him and he's following behind you. Yeah, rather than walking beside you. And that's why I love that poem. Footsteps. It's like, oh, well, now listen to a I had a hard time and you weren't with me there. And he's like, hang on, that's the spot carried you.
00:19:21:17 - 00:19:24:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They're my footprints, not yours. Yeah.
00:19:24:16 - 00:19:25:07
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:19:25:07 - 00:19:27:07
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Priorities. Right.
00:19:27:09 - 00:19:41:21
Dave Quak
Do you, do you know how crazy that is coming from you? Right? Like you like you understand how powerful that is? That you can even look back and all the hard stuff you've been through, you can say, that's where God carried me.
00:19:41:22 - 00:19:44:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, I never survived it without it.
00:19:45:01 - 00:19:47:23
Dave Quak
It's like it's mind blowing.
00:19:48:01 - 00:19:53:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
It's just. Oh, I had to let on numerous occasions. Sake! God, I can't handle it.
00:19:53:16 - 00:19:55:17
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:19:55:19 - 00:20:26:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
The night, the, the trial, when they sent me to prison, I was so had it. I had spent quite a long time in prayer that afternoon while the jury was out, until I finally said, well, Lord, you know, I'm, saying make them listen to the evidence and do the right thing, but maybe that's you've got another reason that I don't know about.
00:20:26:21 - 00:20:49:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So if there's a reason you want me to go to prison, as long as you look after my kids, that's okay. And I had barely finished saying that, and I knocked on the door and told me the jury was back and it had been out for hours. So that point, by the time I got to prison, I was exhausted.
00:20:49:19 - 00:21:07:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
My mind was blank, and, you do all the chicken and all the stuff you have to do, and then you're always put on early lock up when you first came, in case you get to a cycle.
00:21:07:06 - 00:21:07:22
Dave Quak
Okay.
00:21:08:00 - 00:21:35:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Try and do whatever some people want to fight or pick fights, you know, others some rows. You just don't know what any prisoners can do. So put them on early, lock up for a week. Saw it. Fun, right? That came round and I frankly, I was just so relieved to get to my Selima and and be able to lie down.
00:21:35:18 - 00:21:38:21
Dave Quak
And because it was years of noise and craziness and trials.
00:21:38:21 - 00:21:40:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And there's also.
00:21:40:00 - 00:21:41:21
Dave Quak
Like a summons and everything.
00:21:41:23 - 00:21:50:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I went to pray and my mind was totally, absolutely blank, which was unusual for me.
00:21:50:17 - 00:21:52:13
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:21:52:15 - 00:22:02:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I'm thinking, well, this is no good. And I finally said, Lord, I've had it. I'm tired. You'll have to pray for me tonight.
00:22:02:10 - 00:22:05:03
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:22:05:05 - 00:22:08:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I just want to sleep. And the next thing I knew, it was morning.
00:22:08:14 - 00:22:09:07
Dave Quak
Yeah, well.
00:22:09:09 - 00:22:19:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And the number of people that said, oh, we couldn't sleep after that. We were up all night. We were crying. We were this and that. I slept peacefully.
00:22:19:01 - 00:22:19:21
Dave Quak
00:22:19:23 - 00:22:45:22
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
As soon as I said those words, I felt so peaceful. And I woke up at the crack of dawn, got up to go to the toilet and straight. And I saw I those my window on some grass and then the prison fence. And outside that straight opposite me was the dingo.
00:22:46:00 - 00:22:47:00
Dave Quak
Are you kidding?
00:22:47:00 - 00:22:50:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
No, I thought to myself. That's right. Your friend of mine? Yeah.
00:22:50:14 - 00:22:51:13
Dave Quak
Are you kidding.
00:22:51:13 - 00:23:01:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Me? That would be right. That's just like the devil saying, see, I'm one and that's. And then I thought, no, you didn't. How I already know.
00:23:01:18 - 00:23:02:09
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:23:02:10 - 00:23:27:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Even though I don't know why I'm here, I don't know why the jury made such a ill informed decision. I know God's got something up his sleeve and in his tone, this is going to be all right. And whether that is why I'm still alive when I'm still alive or after. This is not the end.
00:23:27:07 - 00:23:29:06
Dave Quak
Then you already had that.
00:23:29:08 - 00:23:29:22
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I.
00:23:30:00 - 00:23:31:07
Dave Quak
Happening. Then on the more.
00:23:31:07 - 00:23:37:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I knew that there was a and.
00:23:37:13 - 00:23:55:08
Dave Quak
We'll be back after this break. But I just wanted to let you know that if you are struggling with your faith or mental wellbeing, or you just want to flourish in both of those areas, I've written a course called Loving Life with Faith and Mental Health. It's only 28 bucks for 28 days, and we found it to be really helpful for people wanting to flourish in these areas.
00:23:55:10 - 00:24:00:17
Dave Quak
So check that out if you like. Otherwise, let's get back to the conversation. Well.
00:24:00:19 - 00:24:30:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And when I look back now, if they said not guilty, then the majority people would have said, oh, she just had smart lawyers. They wouldn't have believed. And it's gone all the way through at every step. I would think, oh, how on earth could they have that stupid program? You know, there's no way people are to think I'm innocent looking at that.
00:24:30:09 - 00:24:47:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And then I'd have more letters. Once I saw that I knew you were innocent, thinking, well, I heard a statement once. You could never do anything against the truth, but for the truth. Because no matter how the devil tries to mess things up, God can turn them for good.
00:24:47:17 - 00:24:49:00
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:24:49:02 - 00:25:17:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And continually get those little glimpses. Yeah. All right. How I'm using this. You're all right. I'm using this. And so here's type. Well, I might not understand what you're doing. God. But I can see that you are doing this. And you promised to look after my kids. I can't get a better babysitter than that. Yeah, so I'm fine.
00:25:17:14 - 00:25:43:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, I'm cool. And each time it, like, not yet, not yet. But the whole time I was sitting there, I would organize a craft and think, well, there's nothing coming up for so many weeks I can finish this by then. And if it's time to go, everything's up to date all the way through. And then I got caught up at the end with the bat.
00:25:43:02 - 00:26:02:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Not a jacket, that's what. Throw it all together. You going home even at lunchtime? Because our radios weren't on. We thought the screws were going on strike. Didn't realize the media the guy was waiting to get me when it came out of prison, and I'd already been released.
00:26:02:19 - 00:26:04:00
Dave Quak
They just didn't know yet.
00:26:04:00 - 00:26:23:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They hadn't told me, so they were already telling people I was released, and there was a royal commission, and I was up in the tower cleaning, and on my way out, all the screws were, you know, if I, Mrs. Chamberlain. Hell, I missed a channel.
00:26:23:11 - 00:26:24:12
Dave Quak
Or maybe it's.
00:26:24:12 - 00:26:57:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
A little late. Guys from head office where you normally prisoner Chamberlain. Or the most Lindy. The ones that were talking to me. And a number of them said, we know you didn't do it when you've been railroaded. And all of a sudden leave it to them. Mrs. Chamberlain, I'm thinking. What? But I still thought they were all here to have a meeting about the screws going on strike, because that's what they were.
00:26:57:15 - 00:27:24:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They'd been on once. They were threatening to go on again. No, they were trying to work out what the hell I were going to do with the media out the front. And then I said, oh, we've got to take it back. Keep going, keep going back into the prison. I nearly called him the superintendent. His car. I'm still thinking it's because of the media in the air wing on strike.
00:27:24:08 - 00:27:40:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
No. What idea? That they knew. Why might there? Because they haven't told me. I've got to get back to the women's section. From the men's section without being seen. Or I could sue them. I didn't know anything about that at the time.
00:27:40:11 - 00:27:41:13
Dave Quak
Right.
00:27:41:15 - 00:28:09:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And when I finally come back, they still didn't tell me. Even though I was brought by the super's office, they waited for me to get back, and about three minutes after I get back, the super arrived. And then they said, get to the office. And I'm thinking, oh, what are we done now? The girls nicked more Vegemite, which said, get it out of the out of the offices sink because we never got Vegemite.
00:28:09:19 - 00:28:32:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I typed, oh, I did in some very odd places to get it back because you got a body pat when you came out. Oh, I thought, oh, I think we've nicked mama. We're going to get pat it. Damn, I haven't got it. But I'll get the blame because I was with an Aboriginal girl the one time they got photos of me, they had no idea it was me.
00:28:32:23 - 00:28:43:22
Dave Quak
Yeah. Okay. So that's so funny. I love that this is all happening. And you thought you might be getting in trouble for Vegemite. Heard.
00:28:44:00 - 00:29:04:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And then we're here to tell you you're going to be released. Any bread? True. But later on, I thought he is skunk here. Not you. Not kind of know. What do I think? So you know, I put on the no. Yeah. Expression face. And he's looking at me and he said, do you want me to read it to you again?
00:29:04:15 - 00:29:22:22
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I said, no, I don't like to read it for myself. Thanks. And my seniors like, write the letter off, which was unusual and like, give it to him to read. And I read through and I noticed it said I would not go back into prison for any reason. And I said, oh yeah, look at Robert. Big contract.
00:29:22:22 - 00:29:33:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Come back. Didn't get a good response for that. But I was asked to make a phone call me, like, you're not getting out of here without the media seeing you. And I said, well, we'll see.
00:29:33:23 - 00:29:34:09
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:29:34:14 - 00:29:39:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And of course I did. They chased my girlfriend decoy in my class.
00:29:39:14 - 00:29:40:17
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:29:40:18 - 00:29:45:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I was hiding in the back seat of the pastor's car.
00:29:45:10 - 00:29:47:02
Dave Quak
Oh, that's right, I remember that. Yeah.
00:29:47:08 - 00:30:11:04
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
He was standing, waiting. And I'm thinking, why is Bobby looking lost and out right past it? Make fabric. Lindy, are we going to have that meeting today or not? WhatsApp thing. And I went, what? I'm getting out tonight telling me wait, what? When I said, now, and I said, remote. You don't have to wait. You go and it's like, I'm, I'm waiting.
00:30:11:08 - 00:30:30:07
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So it was an extra cab we weren't expecting. And he ended up going and in his car and of course, they followed the cars that had come in to get me. And there was a van next to us, and I'm in the back and I'm looking straight up at reporters, thinking, you look sideways now I'm busted.
00:30:30:07 - 00:30:31:10
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:30:31:12 - 00:30:42:07
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And the pastor was so nervous, like, they're going to catch us again, catch us. What am I going to do? And I said, not. They won't. Look, they're looking at Susie.
00:30:42:09 - 00:30:42:22
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:30:43:00 - 00:30:47:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They are so intent on getting pictures at Susie, who's like this.
00:30:47:16 - 00:30:55:12
Dave Quak
Old pictures of Susie said that pastor would have loved it because he our job can get a bit vanilla, so he would have had at least a bit of an adrenaline rush for once.
00:30:55:12 - 00:31:12:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Oh, we had the driver roster already got out and he's like, oh, I'm shaking. And of course they all went left and we went right? Yeah. And then I climbed over into the front seat and he's like, what if they say was it not. They won't, they won't come back.
00:31:12:04 - 00:31:12:16
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:31:12:19 - 00:31:14:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They're after her and they'll be right.
00:31:14:20 - 00:31:26:00
Dave Quak
That's amazing. But what I find fascinating thing is you don't seem to have malice in your eyes when you're talking about the very people who stole three years. How do you not for.
00:31:26:02 - 00:31:26:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
These.
00:31:26:08 - 00:31:29:21
Dave Quak
People. How do you not want their demise?
00:31:29:23 - 00:31:57:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, you know, you have patches where you think, oh, it finally and then you think he read the Bible and look what happened to people who went all against what God wanted. God had some for us human, some very inventive ways of punishing.
00:31:57:08 - 00:31:58:19
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:31:58:21 - 00:32:00:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So could pilot.
00:32:00:14 - 00:32:01:11
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:32:01:13 - 00:32:15:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Who had to do with Jesus trials history. Tell us. He was eight from inside out by worms. How uncomfortable is that? Got worms from a cat.
00:32:15:21 - 00:32:16:22
Dave Quak
Once you did.
00:32:17:00 - 00:32:20:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Connive or rape at 18, you can't scratch.
00:32:20:23 - 00:32:22:09
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:22:11 - 00:32:25:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Oh, my. Have all sorts of medicines.
00:32:25:17 - 00:32:32:14
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah. So your thoughts are if God's going to stand against those who stand against him, you don't want to be that person.
00:32:32:16 - 00:32:50:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You know. Well, you just think, oh, you don't need to punish this person at all. God's got it covered. And one of the worst thing that's for somebody who's trying to being nasty to you is for you to be nice back.
00:32:50:22 - 00:32:52:08
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:32:52:10 - 00:32:53:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
It makes to me.
00:32:53:19 - 00:32:54:16
Dave Quak
Makes him.
00:32:54:18 - 00:33:12:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Angry out. That makes you. You did something to them. Yeah. And break it up actually put my Bible in the National Library in Canberra now. But I would stick my finger in for a first night and morning.
00:33:12:14 - 00:33:13:18
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:33:13:20 - 00:33:37:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Some verses I got more than once, but they were often spot on what was happening that day. So much so that after a while I thought man God's telling me something here and I would write dates and events next to them. Yeah. This is the text I got on the morning of the high Court. This is the one I got that night.
00:33:37:11 - 00:34:10:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Sort of thing. Which is why I put that Bible in the National Library and when they were filming A cry in the dark with Meryl Streep, she said, Linda, I've seen that Bible. You have, but you're lying to me. And I'm like, She said, I promise I'll be really careful. I will hand it back to you personally at the end of this, but I'd really like to have that beside me while I'm acting you.
00:34:10:04 - 00:34:11:02
Dave Quak
00:34:11:04 - 00:34:38:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I thought, well I said okay, she got a rebound for me in the original combo but rebound because the captured Camelford are falling apart. Right. And gave it back to me and said I often while I was waiting for scenes read your Bible and read the little notes and things and I thought, wow, that is interesting.
00:34:38:13 - 00:34:45:20
Dave Quak
What's it like when you get portrayed in pop culture? Like it sounds like in that scenario, you and I got along. Yeah.
00:34:45:21 - 00:34:46:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
We got on. Really?
00:34:47:00 - 00:34:47:19
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:34:47:21 - 00:35:02:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
We got on really well. And both Sam Neill and, Miranda Otto and.
00:35:03:01 - 00:35:13:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Colin Blank, who played Michael in the mini series. Oh, come on, he was gorgeous. Craig McCloud. Oh, yeah.
00:35:13:00 - 00:35:13:18
Dave Quak
Craig McLachlan.
00:35:13:22 - 00:35:31:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I know what other people think of them. Think of Craig, but it's not what I think of him. He's such a lovely, lovely guy. And I think for a lot of jealousy involved there. But and it's throughout his career I.
00:35:31:20 - 00:35:33:00
Dave Quak
Haven't seen him on anything in.
00:35:33:00 - 00:35:46:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Ages. Absolutely miserable. But you know, I you fiction of a person out of the media, it's not necessarily who they are.
00:35:46:18 - 00:35:48:07
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:35:48:08 - 00:36:02:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And. We tend to forget that. We think you see them in the media, you know, that night time that it's rubbish. Not totally forgotten. What true original question.
00:36:02:15 - 00:36:24:12
Dave Quak
My even just like, okay, so with that, movie portrayal, you were on board and it was you know, there was consultation and stuff, but then there's other things that people would just produce that are not based on facts. So there was that joke in Seinfeld, you know, and just those little bits and pieces where it's just like people just take liberties with something that you will never charge for.
00:36:24:12 - 00:36:28:18
Dave Quak
So it's kind of really a bit of a prick move to do it to someone. Do you want me?
00:36:28:20 - 00:37:09:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yeah, I'm in a funny position where you ended up going to prison, but I was never rested. You should have seen me getting American citizenship with that. I have no idea what to do with you. You've got to have been arrested, and I. Well, I wasn't, but, yeah, it's kind of a surreal thing. And you've got gotta look at life like you're standing outside yourself and, like, I guess I'm really fortunate that my dad always used to say to me, honey, a lot of it's not personal.
00:37:09:14 - 00:37:26:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
People are hurting. They will check out what they're feeling like. On to you. The only one that matters is God. And as long as you own God, know the truth. It doesn't matter what anybody else says because he's the ultimate judge.
00:37:26:21 - 00:37:27:17
Dave Quak
Yeah, and.
00:37:27:17 - 00:37:45:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
What is the funniest thing say. But it's so I fell to later when I was putting stuff in the archive that my mother wrote to Paul Avery Gab, who was chief minister.
00:37:45:03 - 00:37:47:23
Dave Quak
Did she tell him a new one or what did she do?
00:37:48:01 - 00:37:54:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I she gave him a lot of Bible verses about what happened to people that lied.
00:37:54:17 - 00:37:55:23
Dave Quak
And, yeah.
00:37:56:01 - 00:38:31:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
What their age would be. And yeah, and he was a major kingpin up there. And in fact, the media was keeping tabs all the time. On with jury was unbeknownst to the jury was a cop's wife was cleaning for them, getting coffees or whatever. And she kept removing the bin, keeping it to the press. Who'd go through and read the updates for and against votes.
00:38:31:17 - 00:39:01:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
They knew exactly what was happening. Yeah, they were keeping my lawyers up to date with what was happening, not me. We put them stays under guard at that stage, but that were telling the lawyers and one of them said to one of the press, said to one of the cops that were hanging around me, the press, you know, what's going are we all know what the verdict is going to be.
00:39:01:19 - 00:39:15:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And it's like, how can you know what the verdict is going to be? Well, they Territorians, they know what they do. Two years I have to do what Scott wants and he wants a guilty verdict.
00:39:15:19 - 00:39:16:13
Dave Quak
Yeah, sure.
00:39:16:13 - 00:39:17:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Enough, it was a guilty.
00:39:17:18 - 00:39:31:16
Dave Quak
It was. And then they pulled it apart over the next few years and saw how much of a farce it was. Like, did you ever feel like you became TV characters rather than humans, that they were watching a drama, rooting for a side or something?
00:39:31:22 - 00:39:58:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Look, even in the first inquest and we had death threats during that, so we had a police bodyguard, a lovely cop. He was. And, we'd be off chatting and he did his best to tell us jokes all the time, which sometimes he'd tell you one just before you got out of the car to go to court.
00:39:58:02 - 00:40:00:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
It's like, Frank, will you stop.
00:40:00:07 - 00:40:01:11
Dave Quak
Timing, Frank? Timing.
00:40:01:12 - 00:40:27:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
It is not good if we are laughing when we get out of the car. We're in trouble. But he would try and keep it light, and we'd all sit down and watch the news to see what those people had been doing in court that day. Because what came across the news usually bore very little resemblance to what had happened in court and what we were doing.
00:40:27:20 - 00:40:28:23
Dave Quak
Yeah, okay.
00:40:29:01 - 00:40:56:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I know it said, something about how we'd gone into hiding because of the death threats. The, the, hotel we were staying in at the time. Check to say I'd have to take bomb threats, and they'd had to put everybody out. The second one, they put everybody out except us. They let us stay there and made sense.
00:40:56:18 - 00:41:05:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Like, hang on. Yeah, this is weird. If this is a threat against the Chamberlain's, the very people you should be getting out, you're moving in the.
00:41:05:06 - 00:41:06:08
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:41:06:09 - 00:41:20:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I said, not if I go to go home. Nobody would take us. And Frank's wife was a cleaner at a small motel, and she spoke to him. Roman didn't tell him who was coming in.
00:41:20:12 - 00:41:21:09
Dave Quak
Oh, yeah.
00:41:21:11 - 00:41:54:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So we got a room in the US, and it happened next door. But then it's like Chamberlain's had gone into hiding. Something about the cop, and it was. It was time that there was no seats in the room. So we're all lying on the bed. That's Rufus, the cop. And Michael, I know I and, he without realizing his phraseology, he said something bad.
00:41:54:15 - 00:42:04:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yeah. And if they knew the cop was on the bed with the child left. And of course, I have got my or funny sensitivities, so that's that's funny.
00:42:04:16 - 00:42:06:13
Dave Quak
Oh, he's just laughing.
00:42:06:14 - 00:42:28:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
He's like, no, no, I didn't mean that. Didn't like, yeah, that's funny. But he's like it. You're not in hiding here. Not but you know, and yet they made that up because they didn't have a story. They didn't know for a couple of days. And then they like they said, we know where you are, but we're going to give you peace.
00:42:28:14 - 00:42:29:09
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:42:29:11 - 00:43:02:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Because there's nowhere else you couldn't go. Nobody else left. So wheel and pipe would come to the arrangement. As long as we walked in and and the front door of the court. Yeah. They wouldn't stick cameras on us when we were eating and in between them. But to see them walking down when we were staying in that big hotel to see some of the worst reporters so drunk they could hardly help themselves up on the lift, you know, you started on the booze early tonight.
00:43:02:05 - 00:43:09:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
What are you going to do? Well, I to file a story and you think? Do you even know what happened? You weren't in court today?
00:43:09:21 - 00:43:14:03
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah, but I'm not sure that,
00:43:14:04 - 00:43:34:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Murdoch employed swing reporters which had not heard of before that. And they were to tell anybody that's what they were doing to make the news like it was serialized. Before that news was news. When he took over, he turned it into a business to make money.
00:43:34:11 - 00:43:35:02
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:43:35:04 - 00:43:45:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And he basically serialized it and now able to make me look guilty one day and innocent the next. So people continued to watch his program.
00:43:45:15 - 00:44:02:17
Dave Quak
Yeah, that's watching on. It just felt like so many times you guys was treated as pawns. And I always just thought these are what you want. Humans like this is a grieving mum away. Like, this is actually life and you guys are just ripping into this. It was.
00:44:02:22 - 00:44:27:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Messed up. Well, even to begin with, the lawyers would sit at their tables and go and give the. Yeah, you know, I got one to use on the other side. Acknowledge it. No I said to my oh is up to the to one back. And I said him you ever do that again. You're off my team. Yeah I can do it all I like.
00:44:27:15 - 00:44:30:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
But you have some class.
00:44:30:02 - 00:44:30:15
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:44:30:17 - 00:44:37:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
This is not a game of chess. You. This is my life. Not how smart you guys can be.
00:44:37:01 - 00:44:37:17
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:44:37:19 - 00:44:47:07
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And they're like, oh, sorry, Lindy. Get so used to doing this. And none of them ever did that again.
00:44:47:07 - 00:44:47:19
Dave Quak
No way.
00:44:47:21 - 00:45:02:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Oh, I can tell you. But they also saw what certainly did, and you would get me involved in it. Like, this is a job. I am doing my job no more, no less. Any of the others. This is personal. I'm gonna get you.
00:45:02:10 - 00:45:02:18
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:45:02:22 - 00:45:27:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And the evidence, their involvement in court, whatever was very personalized. And they took it personally. But I wasn't the first mother. It was a baby taken by a dingo. There were plenty of them before that, but many of them were Aboriginal kids.
00:45:27:03 - 00:45:28:15
Dave Quak
You never know from report them.
00:45:28:17 - 00:46:01:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, you didn't have to report them till after the middle of the 70s. And white, settlers had been killed by dingoes. Well, that was in a little country news rags or, settlers diaries. It wasn't written in court. And because it was not in court, that was no precedence. So the and the T took that as there is no precedent for this.
00:46:01:19 - 00:46:32:22
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Therefore it never happened. But we all know now what did happen. But they could legally say that because it wasn't in a court. Didn't need to hear. Now if you were all on a search party and you find a body, you find a dingo with entrails round mouth of that body. He don't need an inquest. Everybody knew and everybody knew one another in the district.
00:46:33:00 - 00:46:33:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And that was it.
00:46:33:22 - 00:46:34:12
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:46:34:14 - 00:46:39:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Now nobody knows who each other and it must be in court or it didn't happen.
00:46:39:19 - 00:46:41:02
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:46:41:04 - 00:47:06:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And it's not like that. And in fact, during the royal commission, the father of Marshall Perron, who was the Northern Territory Minister for justice at the time, rocked up to the door and approached me and said, Lindy, I want to give evidence at Marshall parents, father, and I want you to like.
00:47:06:20 - 00:47:07:11
Dave Quak
No way.
00:47:07:11 - 00:47:17:12
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I'm like, oops. And I was with Stuart Tipple about going into court late and I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, talk to my lawyer.
00:47:17:15 - 00:47:18:01
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:47:18:06 - 00:47:53:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And he sort of head in, get out of here. And he came in, listen later and sat down. I'm like, and he said, hand in this to the pro commissioner. And tight got he whispered to them, my won't happened. Within half an hour I was in the box. And he said, Marshall has grown up knowing this happened because I got flagged down to shoot one on my way home, I saw it.
00:47:53:11 - 00:48:21:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
He's known that all the time that it was an Aboriginal kid, and I'm disgusted at him for saying it's never happened and he doesn't know anything about it because he does. You know, that's the only page that's missing. And out of at least three transcripts. And it's interesting, it will turn up somewhere. It always does at the right time when.
00:48:21:17 - 00:48:37:00
Dave Quak
There's such a web of craziness like, and naturally, a little bit of an angry person. I can in a minute. Yes, I'm a pastor with a few good people, but there's so many people that I would just want to go around and punch after this, you know, and your.
00:48:37:02 - 00:48:39:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Friend of mine who.
00:48:39:07 - 00:48:41:08
Dave Quak
You just can forgive everyone.
00:48:41:10 - 00:48:58:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Friend who's like a younger brother to me. And now he's in anger management, counseling, which you believe hadn't met him at the time. I met him afterwards because of the things he were up to. But he went into a pub. He was a pastor.
00:48:58:12 - 00:48:59:12
Dave Quak
Oh, yes.
00:48:59:13 - 00:49:22:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And, he would finish late 20s sort of thing at the time and the next book. So, they went to the pub and somebody had something about dingoes on their T-shirts and it's like, take that off. That offends me. And the guy sitting out, and he knocked you, ma'am. But yes. So being a pastor does not take away your humanity.
00:49:22:17 - 00:49:41:00
Dave Quak
And knock it. If someone came in here with a dingo shirt, I'd give him a go. I'd try it. I'll come out with a, you know, for people who look back on their life and they've seen struggle, right? So you look back on your life and you've been through some times that could cause some people to question God's goodness.
00:49:41:02 - 00:49:43:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And definitely make it struggle.
00:49:43:05 - 00:49:58:19
Dave Quak
Yeah. Like you're still kicking on with God. You still love him. You still go to church. Like what has happened in your faith since 12 year old Lindy finding those glasses, which clearly was his goodness. Teaching you some foundational.
00:49:58:20 - 00:49:59:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Teaching me faith?
00:50:00:01 - 00:50:01:12
Dave Quak
Yeah, teaching you faith.
00:50:01:14 - 00:50:02:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And care for.
00:50:02:13 - 00:50:03:14
Dave Quak
You. Yeah.
00:50:03:16 - 00:50:08:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
He and I just relax. I do care a bit. Yeah. I'm watching. Okay. I'm listening.
00:50:08:20 - 00:50:16:01
Dave Quak
Okay. That so he cares about the small things like the glasses and he cares about false imprisonment.
00:50:16:03 - 00:50:18:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Going to care about the big things.
00:50:18:05 - 00:50:25:02
Dave Quak
Is that how it worked for you? Like the early traces of faith, were like things you could hold onto when it got harder?
00:50:25:04 - 00:50:44:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Well, I say it like this if you want to run a marathon, you just don't sit back in the armchair and imagine yourself winning and then going out and getting on the front lawn. Yeah, gun goes and you start running and you to finish, you won. Not because you have no muscle build up.
00:50:44:23 - 00:50:45:21
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:50:45:23 - 00:51:05:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You get out there and you train and you might start with 500m and then be dead and go, oh, but how many miles am I going to run? How many kilometers? Some I get. Oh, I can't do that. No, you start training and it's amazing how long it takes before you can do that.
00:51:05:20 - 00:51:06:07
Dave Quak
Yes.
00:51:06:10 - 00:51:30:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And spiritual muscles and faith are no different. You start in the little things. So when the big things come, you know, your father. Yeah. And you trust him and it's like, well, I can't necessarily know you at the moment, but you always look after me. You're always there. So even now, I can't see you at the moment.
00:51:30:20 - 00:51:51:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I know you're somewhere taking care of me. Now, that doesn't mean when you're learning to ride a bike and that's holding the back. That is always going to micromanage. People let you go and let you ride. It might be your fall off a few times, but you will learn to ride.
00:51:51:03 - 00:51:52:05
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:51:52:07 - 00:52:21:22
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And we often forget we're born in the middle of the spiritual battle ground. I like to think of this world as the universal TV. And God said, you do want those guys that doing that is eternal death. He live like I've told to. It's eternal life now they're the proof.
00:52:21:23 - 00:52:22:12
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:52:22:14 - 00:52:35:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Of what goes wrong if you don't listen to me. And we just happen to be unfortunate to be born in the middle of the battle between Golden State.
00:52:35:18 - 00:52:37:14
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:52:37:16 - 00:53:06:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And. I guess the first thing you learn. When you're little old. Come on. Something bad. A person who's determined to do bad only cares about themselves. They do not care what they do to anyone else. If you want it to good. The first thing is to preserve and care.
00:53:06:23 - 00:53:07:22
Dave Quak
00:53:08:00 - 00:53:42:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So a criminal doesn't care what they do, who they kill, who they steal from, whatever the cops try to stop them. So if it's a case tracing the criminal or stopping someone from dying because they've been shot, that will give the immediate first died before they go after the criminal. And what happens to us is no different. The devil will do everything in his power.
00:53:42:07 - 00:53:51:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
God is there to ameliorate that, and he'll be through it. But it doesn't say, I'm going to stop and put you in cotton wool.
00:53:51:02 - 00:53:51:10
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:53:51:12 - 00:54:18:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
What you got to do spiritually, whether you believe Jobe is a real story or whether it's a parable or analytical or whatever view you take of it, it's interesting that God and the devil are having an argument, and the devil says he's not going to trust you. If only I can do this. And he tries it and doesn't work, and use this to gamble if I do this.
00:54:18:16 - 00:54:44:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And finally, God, to do anything you like, but don't take his life. And so we got boils. He got whatever God was there. But the devil had a mind. You go Jobe got through it despite his well-meaning miserable counselors. And then God says, I'm giving you back more than you lost.
00:54:44:05 - 00:54:45:09
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:54:45:11 - 00:54:54:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I think we have to remember that God's got it sorted.
00:54:54:02 - 00:54:54:14
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:54:54:16 - 00:55:25:10
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And we may not get everything we want, and we definitely don't get everything. The way we see it ought to be. But, for instance, if this had ended at the first inquest or the first trial or, you know, any of the stages in between, we wouldn't be talking now. Everybody would have said smart lawyers. That would have been the end of it.
00:55:25:10 - 00:55:44:13
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yeah. But at each stage God got high. You go down there, look at this, look at this, look at this. I mean, polls now say 30% of Australians still think I'm guilty. Well, I can't help that. They're stupid, but.
00:55:44:15 - 00:55:47:06
Dave Quak
That doesn't make you mad. Like.
00:55:47:08 - 00:55:50:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Oh, no, because it's not my problem. I'm not their drunk.
00:55:50:07 - 00:56:01:19
Dave Quak
I'll go to get that with. I honestly need to get that place in my faith because I would be saying on the outside I'm not mad, but staying up all night thinking about their demise.
00:56:02:00 - 00:56:10:02
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yeah, well, now let me ask you this. Who do you want in control of your life? You or them?
00:56:10:04 - 00:56:11:07
Dave Quak
Yeah. Me. Right? Yeah.
00:56:11:11 - 00:56:17:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Okay, so if you're stewing over what they do eat, who's in control of your life?
00:56:18:01 - 00:56:19:21
Dave Quak
Yeah, they are, because they're.
00:56:19:23 - 00:56:20:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Steering.
00:56:20:11 - 00:56:21:16
Dave Quak
My thoughts.
00:56:21:18 - 00:56:30:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And you ask me about forgive us spiritual. And I used to think 70 times seven. You know what.
00:56:30:12 - 00:56:34:14
Dave Quak
Well, you're one of the only people who've got to that number really 70 times seven.
00:56:34:14 - 00:57:06:10
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
But do you count them? And then you can let fly. What is you know, this forgiveness is it's a good principle. But what actually is isn't. And while I was in prison, it suddenly hit me. It's got nothing to do with the other person at all. It's for you. Yeah. And that for you do 70 times seven. Because if you don't forgive them, they,
00:57:06:12 - 00:57:11:05
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
What I call renting your head space. You're not in control. Yeah.
00:57:11:07 - 00:57:12:07
Dave Quak
That's good.
00:57:12:09 - 00:57:52:21
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And if you don't want to carry their poison, you've got to let it go. Let God deal with that and move on. Take over your own space. Forgive your self for being sidetracked on their nastiness and say, this is on you. My, this is not on me. God knows what you've done. You'll get yours will die. Yeah. And if I look back, all my lawyers, except one who contracted a nasty disease and and died shortly afterwards.
00:57:52:21 - 00:58:34:17
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
So going into old age, all but one who chose not to. He liked the research. He didn't want to be in charge or anything else. So he kept turning it down. Every last other one has been a judge, a coroner, a royal commissioner, whatever. They've gone up, up, up through the ranks, the majority. If the others went static or down, quite a number of the forensic guys have been majorly disgraced.
00:58:34:19 - 00:59:07:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You know, God has his own way of but yeah, even ones who didn't particularly believe in God, they've got a guy have said to me, well, you've got to have something for all this God of yours must be doing something because we've never seen this sort of thing before. And. If you do that, you don't. If you say, Lord, it's in your hand.
00:59:07:22 - 00:59:14:23
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You know what? I've done this between you and me. That is, between your name.
00:59:15:01 - 00:59:15:21
Dave Quak
I like that.
00:59:15:23 - 00:59:30:04
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
I don't have to answer for what they've done. That's their thing. And one day you're the ultimate judge and they'll be going, oh.
00:59:30:06 - 00:59:32:05
Dave Quak
Yeah.
00:59:32:07 - 00:59:53:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
If in the meantime, they realize what they've done and they come back and apologize, he doesn't have a problem of saying, it's fine. I gave it to God long ago. I was between you and him. Yeah. I don't have to deal with with phone, because I'll guarantee there's going to be a lot of people in heaven that will give us a hell of a surprise.
00:59:53:11 - 00:59:54:20
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Why don't I have I got this? Yeah.
00:59:54:20 - 00:59:55:20
Dave Quak
Yeah, always. Yeah, but.
00:59:55:20 - 00:59:58:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
We won't be holding grudges against them then.
00:59:58:19 - 00:59:59:20
Dave Quak
No.
00:59:59:22 - 01:00:06:00
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Because we know when it comes to that stage, we aren't the only perfect God.
01:00:06:00 - 01:00:06:12
Dave Quak
Yeah, yeah.
01:00:06:14 - 01:00:17:11
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
That'll be just as perfect because God said, I love you all equally. And it's awfully hard to go. Well, God loves that, right? But as much as he loves me.
01:00:17:11 - 01:00:18:19
Dave Quak
That's right.
01:00:18:21 - 01:00:29:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And I found if somebody was giving me a really, really hard time, if I made myself pray for that person, I couldn't hide them.
01:00:29:05 - 01:00:48:00
Dave Quak
Well, including the people who are overtly against you. And so did your, muscle of forgiveness work, like your muscle of faith where it was, like, exercised. And now if you got something critical, if there was a news article written today and it was wrong, would you be able to read it and go, oh.
01:00:48:02 - 01:00:54:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Mostly I do. Sometimes I get sidetracked and I go, yeah.
01:00:54:15 - 01:01:08:02
Dave Quak
Yeah. And that's maybe why you're married is in the background with. Yeah, you guys can't see it in the background. We have got Rick over there who would hear the, the the other side of that conversation.
01:01:08:04 - 01:01:15:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yes. And men, look at this. Nothing wrong with bitching about it.
01:01:15:05 - 01:01:17:09
Dave Quak
Part of the process, you say.
01:01:17:11 - 01:01:20:08
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
But don't make it into a graven story.
01:01:20:08 - 01:01:21:22
Dave Quak
Yeah.
01:01:21:23 - 01:01:52:03
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You say to a close friend or just to God, if that's what you say, like, get it out of your system and then move forward. Don't hold on to it. Don't keep carrying that around with you, because that's just literally fine, miserable. And it's hard to do at times. I mean, you go back on it and start gnashing your teeth and then go, you're an idiot.
01:01:52:05 - 01:01:57:06
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
You said it like this. Go understand it. Making you angry. Let go again.
01:01:57:08 - 01:01:58:00
Dave Quak
Yeah.
01:01:58:01 - 01:01:58:19
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Stop it.
01:01:58:23 - 01:02:15:09
Dave Quak
Yeah. Linda. You know, so this is so powerful. Coming from you. Because all of us as Christians hold on to things. And if you've been able to go through what you have and be able to let go and forgive, and even if there's a process and every Rick gets a bit of an air bashing and then he helps you come back like.
01:02:15:09 - 01:02:20:18
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
He doesn't usually give an ear bat bashing he listens to any better than someone else.
01:02:20:19 - 01:02:45:12
Dave Quak
Oh no, that's what I mean. Like, you hear the The Conduit. It's just powerful that it's real. And I think, you know, it doesn't make sense. But that's the truth of the gospel is it's a peace that surpasses understanding. Like, it doesn't on paper. It shouldn't make sense that you don't have bitterness and unforgiveness on paper. But we serve a God who gives us peace that is beyond the normal.
01:02:45:14 - 01:03:07:16
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And if you've ever felt God's peace, you think about God's peace. Yeah, yeah, I know what that is. And I thought I knew. But that first night in prison and one other time since then, and the if it felt it twice, you cannot describe it, you know, when you have it and it's like.
01:03:07:21 - 01:03:08:05
Dave Quak
Oh.
01:03:08:10 - 01:03:18:01
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Wow, this is absolutely unbelievable. But you can't describe it. Only a person who has felt it themselves can describe it.
01:03:18:03 - 01:03:35:16
Dave Quak
Yeah. In a moment Linda is going to pray to close out our discussion. But if you want more information or you want to check out more of your faith and mental wellbeing, go to some bird soul Xcom or check out our podcast on any of the major podcast providers. Thanks for tuning in to some Burning Souls.
01:03:35:18 - 01:04:11:15
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Father in Heaven, we thank you for your love and that you are not just an unknown something out there somewhere, but you're personal and that you really care about each one. You really know when a sparrow falls and how many hairs we've got on a head. It's not just something we say to keep a for instance, it's a real true thing that you love us.
01:04:11:15 - 01:04:47:07
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Yeah. And we may not necessarily like the process we go through in life. And it might be hard, but we know that if we stand up for you, the devil's going to throw every last thing he can hit us to try and get us to stumble and have the same punishment in the end that he has. But you love us and you do it for us.
01:04:47:09 - 01:05:13:10
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And you said, I've paid the price of when you haven't been as strong as you'd like to be. And when you've made mistakes, they're all on me. Go up to I'm your son. You're my father. Together this person is our child. And I love the thought.
01:05:13:12 - 01:05:55:09
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
Oh, wait. God the Father and God the Son put their heads together and say, hey, it's time to go and get the kids and bring them home. And Lord, I love the thought of when you said, you will come again. Every I will see you and at that point everyone will know whether the choices were good or the choices were bad and why, and no one will ever have any more questions.
01:05:55:09 - 01:06:24:14
Lindy Chamberlain Creighton
And sin and sorrow will be done away with. And then, Lord, we can enjoy living with you forever. And I pray that everyone listening to this broadcast will realize how much you love them, and how much you gave to have them with you for eternity. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton: Faith, Justice & Mental Health – FAQ
Was Lindy Chamberlain falsely accused of murder?
Yes. In 1980, Lindy Chamberlain was wrongfully convicted of murdering her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru. She served over three years in prison before being released and later fully exonerated. Her case remains one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in Australian history.
How did Lindy Chamberlain keep her faith during prison?
Lindy shared on the Sunburnt Souls podcast that her faith in God never disappeared—even in the darkest moments. She held on to prayer, Scripture, and the belief that Jesus was with her, even in her prison cell.
Did Lindy Chamberlain ever forgive those who falsely accused her?
Yes. In the episode, Lindy explains that forgiveness was a choice she made not to let bitterness take root. She talks openly about how forgiveness brought freedom and how she didn't want her soul chained to anger or revenge.
What does Lindy think about God after everything she went through?
Lindy shared that her relationship with God deepened, not diminished. Despite being villainised by the public and media, she found peace in knowing God saw her heart and never left her side.
Why is Lindy Chamberlain’s story important for Christians today?
Her story is a powerful reminder that injustice, trauma, and false accusation don’t have the final word. For anyone who feels misunderstood or crushed by life’s storms, Lindy’s testimony offers a compelling picture of resilience, hope, and trusting God in suffering.
