Mock Trial: Revisiting The Lindy & Michael Chamberlain ('Dingo') Trial, 1982

Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical & Creative Thinking 

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Cooperative Learning Activity

Teacher

Make up a copy of the Sydney University Mock Trial Manual for each group of 10 students. Local copy here.

You will need to go over the rules of the mock trial with the class for understanding.

Students

1. What do you know about the Lindy & Michael Chamberlain case? Discuss as a class and ask members of your families what they know about this case.

2. You are going to conduct a mock trial about this historic case. In teams of 10 students, read up the Sydney University Mock Trial Manual for the rules governing a mock trial. (PDF - unavailable on Internet in 2019; but here is a copy from the Internet Archive)

3. Select who will role play the main characters in the Trial of Lindy & Michael Chamberlain including witnesses, the forensic scientist, the judge, barristers, and jury.

3. Read over the trial material and prepare your case. This normally takes 2 weeks to prepare. You are to role play rather than conduct a scripted trial, however, you can research beyond the resources provided here [but you need to declare to the other side your research].

4. Conduct a Mock Trial.

Resources:

Famous Trials: The Lindy & Michael Chamberlain ("Dingo") Trial 1982	The Guardian: Dingo baby ruling ends 32 years of torment for Lindy Chamberlain
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton: Legal Process and Findings	ABC: 80 Days that changed our lives: The Disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain
Articles from The Conversation Lindy Chamberlain

Veronica O'Leary - Courtroom Artist for the Trial of Lindy & Michael Chamberlain (Under Artist)

Policing and Informants in Victoria - What are the ramifications?

Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Literacy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical & Creative Thinking 

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Personal and social capability

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Ethical Understanding

Philosophy

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. Form into groups of 4 - 5 students.

Did you know that on the 3 December 2018, news broke that ..... a barrister acted as a police informant [for the prosecution] while working as a barrister for the defense.

"Victoria is finally getting a royal commission into policing following yesterday’s decisions of the High Court and earlier, the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal, to release court rulings that outline an extraordinary episode involving the use of a police informant.

The informant - referred to in court documents only as EF - is a barrister who acted for the defence in several high profile cases that resulted in convictions. It turns out she was also a police informer against the very same people she was representing before the courts. This is a shocking breach of the barrister’s duty as an officer of the court to uphold legal professional privilege - that is, the confidentiality of what passes between barrister and client."
(Source: The Conversation 4 December 2018)

2. Read the above article from The Conversation and list down the concerns of the author.

3. Hold a Community of Inquiry [CoI] using this article as your stimulus source.

4. After holding a CoI, debate the question as a class: What are the ramifications?