Dingo attack on baby gets an encore with Lindy, the opera

It has inspired countless books, magazine articles and a film starring Meryl Streep. Now the controversial story of a dingo attack on a baby girl in the Australian desert more than 20 years ago has inspired an opera.

Lindy will have its world premiere at the Sydney Opera House tomorrow night after a 10-year struggle to bring it to the stage and criticism that it was either too tasteless, bizarre or both.

It takes its name from Lindy Chamberlain, a Seventh Day Adventist who with her then husband Michael claimed in 1980 that their nine-week-old baby daughter, Azaria, was killed by a dingo at a campsite near Ayers Rock, now known by its Aboriginal name, Uluru.

Despite no motive and flimsy forensic evidence, Mrs Chamberlain was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982. Her husband received an 18-month suspended sentence.

After appeals, growing public disquiet and a royal commission, Mrs Chamberlain was released from prison in 1986 and formally pardoned two years later.

The case divided Australia between those who were convinced Mrs Chamberlain was guilty, and those who maintained she was unfairly demonised.

Despite the pardon, she was subjected to public vilification and prejudice, particularly over her religious beliefs.