In August 1980, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain packed their two young boys and nine-week-old daughter Azaria into their yellow Holden Torana and went on a camping holiday in the Northern Territory.

'A dingo's got my baby'

But on the night of August 17, Azaria vanished from the family tent at Uluru.

"A dingo's got my baby," Lindy Chamberlain told police and media of her daughter's disappearance.

The initial inquiry supported the Chamberlains' case and the Alice Springs magistrate and coroner, Dennis Barritt, concluded that a dingo entered the tent and took Azaria.

But Northern Territory police never believed Lindy's dingo story, insisting instead that she had murdered Azaria in the front seat of their family car.

The Supreme Court quashed the initial finding, and indicted Lindy Chamberlain on a charge of murder, and Michael Chamberlain with being an accessory.

Although there was limited evidence, they were both found guilty, and Lindy was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 29, 1982.

That limited evidence — later discredited — included supposed blood spatters in the footwell and under the dash of the family's car, but it was all a forensics stuff-up.

"The material that had been alleged to be Azaria's blood was many other substances," National Museum of Australia curator Sophie Jensen said.

"Bitumen material — sound deadener used in the manufacture of the car — milkshake, copper dust, but not blood."

Ultimately, it wasn't a re-evaluation of the forensic case that saw Lindy released from prison in 1986 and exonerated, but the chance discovery of Azaria's missing jacket near dingo dens at the base of Uluru in February 1986.

Still, it wasn't until a fourth and final inquest — more than 30 years after Azaria's disappearance — that Lindy and Michael were exonerated.

On June 12, 2012, Coroner Elizabeth Morris officially determined the death of Azaria was by a dingo and granted an amended death certificate to Lindy and Michael.

Family car 'a symbol of Australian justice'

The Chamberlain case gripped the public imagination to the point of near hysteria — the trial was one of the most publicised in Australian history, and polarised the community.

Over the decades there have been books, TV documentaries, a film and even an opera about the case.

"From the very day that it occurred to today, it's a case that engenders strong emotion," Ms Jensen said.

"People still feel very strongly about the case, about the way in which the case was handled, the feelings of the family, about Azaria herself, and it's still something that makes people very passionate."

The NMA has hundreds of objects relating to the Azaria Chamberlain case, from the family's camping gear and memorabilia, to the car where police had alleged she was murdered.

"This car is a really important symbol of the Chamberlain case," Ms Jensen said.

"During the second inquest … the car was essentially ripped apart in an attempt to prove that it was the location of Azaria's murder.

"It became a central forensic piece of evidence in which it was alleged the car was covered in blood."

Michael Chamberlain — who died in 2017 — always loved the Torana for its flamboyant colour, its speed, and the controversial image it lent his profession as a Seventh Day Adventist minister.

Once his family was cleared over Azaria's disappearance, he fought to have his pride and joy returned.

It was finally returned in 1990 — in pieces — and he was compensated $19,000 to finance its restoration.

The finishing touch: a custom number plate that speaks of the car's critical role in a failed police case.

"You can see a certain black humour in his choice of personalised number plate with '4ENSIC'," Ms Jensen said.

"But for Michael, what this car represented was a symbol of what the family had endured."

In 2014, Michael donated his proudly restored V8 to the museum.

"The car represents a gross injustice and it also symbolises freedom as the result of the proper and independent revision of forensic science, which eventually saw Lindy and I exonerated in 1988," he said at the time.

"To me, it is a testament, a piece de resistance, to one of the worst perversions of justice in the forensic science of Australian history."

The car has been wheeled out of storage for its first public display, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Azaria's death.

Some may see it just as a classic Australian V8 car, but for Michael it was much more.

"It is ultimately for me not only an example of total forensic failure but also a symbol — even an icon — to a triumph of Australian justice ultimately," he said.

Also among the stored items in the museum is the delicate, muddied and damaged jacket that freed Lindy from prison — though under an agreement with Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, it will never be put on public display in her lifetime.

"Remember that this is a case at the end of the day, about a small child who lost their life, and that's Azaria Chamberlain, and we can't forget that as the central part of the story," Ms Jensen said.

The Chamberlain's Torana will be on show at the NMA for two weeks before returning to storage.

"It's a little moment in time where we can all mark and reflect on the significance of this case," Ms Jensen said.

And have a bit of a sing song....