The father of Azaria Chamberlain insists his ex-wife was accused of murdering their baby daughter at Uluru nearly 30 years ago to protect the Northern Territory's tourism industry.
Michael Chamberlain made his allegation on Australian television last night in a broadcast which also documented his former wife Lindy's return to the scene of a mystery that polarised the nation when nine-week-old Azaria went missing on August 17, 1980.
Her parents said Azaria was taken from the family tent by a dingo, a scenario initially supported by police.
However, Lindy was eventually charged and convicted of Azaria's murder after a seven-week trial in 1982.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment; Christchurch-born Michael was found guilty of acting as an accessory to murder but avoided jail time.
"We were seen to be the patsies, it was quite a political thing," Mr Chamberlain said.
He said hotels servicing what was then known as Ayers Rocks were worried about the impact on tourism if a dingo was to blame -- and pressurised the Northern Territory government.
"I think something was said to them like: 'You've got to fix this mess up because it might affect tourism'," Mr Chamberlain said.
"You've got to get somebody and get a conviction because you can't have dingoes running around killing kids -- or the fear of that happening."
Their convictions were ultimately quashed when an item of Azaria's clothing was found near the base of the rock in 1986.
Mr Chamberlain said three decades on he was still not over Azaria's disappearance -- and a legal battle which included three coronial inquests, Lindy's murder trial, multiple appeals, a royal commission and their eventual exoneration.
"I'm finding I'm not getting over it. And there's a good reason I'm not getting over it, because in my book justice has still not been done," he said.
The Chamberlains -- who had three other children -- divorced in 1991 and have subsequently remarried.
A Current Affair filmed Lindy Creighton and the former couple's two boys Regan and Aiden retracing their steps at the now abandoned and overgrown camping site.
It was the trio's first visit together to Uluru since Azaria went missing. Several key witnesses involved in the case also made the journey.
Mrs Creighton recalled putting Azaria into a cot at the rear of the tent while four-year-old Regan slept. She then returned to the barbecue area because Aiden, then aged six, was still hungry.
The boys were still struggling to come to terms with their sister's disappearance.
"We're people who have lived with a bit of a kick in the guts along the way," Aiden Chamberlain said.
"Everyone suffers, everyone has tragedy but usually it's quite clear what happened. They don't have to defend it, or prove it."
Mr Creighton said despite the anguish of losing Azaria, if Aiden had been awake in the tent the dingo could have attacked all three children.
"I could have lost all of them that night, it could have been worse," she said.
Lindy acknowledged the Australian public may have been "uncomfortable" with her behaviour at the time of Azaria's disappearance, especially when she described how a dingo could "peel a baby like an orange".
The parents were also criticised for not joining up to 300 searchers who scoured the area for signs of Azaria.
"No matter what we did some people would have been uncomfortable," she said.
Lindy said her one regret was not making the children sleep in the family car, as they had earlier in the trip.
"I wish I'd slept the three kids in the car like we did another night," she said.
"I didn't have the knowledge there was danger here, I was missing that piece of knowledge."
Meanwhile, she remained confident she will be reunited with Azaria beyond the grave.
"Somewhere God's got the blueprint and she's just like she's asleep."
