Settling a notorious 1980 case that split the nation and led to a mistaken murder conviction, an Australian coroner ruled that a dingo took a baby from a campsite in the Outback, just as her mother said from the beginning.

Tuesday's ruling in the northern city of Darwin is from the fourth coroner's inquest into the disappearance of 9-week-old Azaria Chamberlain in 1980 from a campsite near Ayers Rock, the red monolith in the Australian desert now known by its Aboriginal name Uluru.

The child's mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was convicted and later cleared of murdering Azaria and has always maintained that a wild dog took her.

Azaria Chamberlain in a 1980 family photo. (Getty Images)She and her ex-husband, Michael Chamberlain, were in Darwin Magistrates Court to hear the finding.

"No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and only attack if provoked," Chamberlain-Creighton told reporters outside the courthouse.

"We live in a beautiful country but it is dangerous and we would ask all Australians to be aware of this and take appropriate precautions and not wait for somebody else to do it for them."

"The truth is out"

Coroner Elizabeth Morrison stated the evidence that wild animals took the child is "sufficiently adequate, clear, cogent and exact" and that it excludes all other reasonable possibilities.

"[W]hat occurred on the 17th of August 1980 was that shortly after Mrs. Chamberlain placed Azaria in the tent, a dingo or dingoes entered the tent, took Azaria, and carried and dragged her from the immediate area," wrote Morrison in her assessment.

The new death certificate for Azaria Chamberlain now acknowledges the cause of the baby's death, which was previously said to be "unknown." The document holds great significance for a family that has endured a 32-year saga.

"The truth is out," the baby's father told the media. "This battle to get to the legal truth about what caused Azaria's death has taken too long,"

"This has been a terrifying battle. Bitter at times. But now some healing and a chance to put our daughter's spirit to rest."

Fourth inquest considered new evidence

The findings mirror those of the first coroner's inquest in 1981, which found that a dingo took Azaria. But that inquest found that somebody had later interfered with Azaria's clothing, which was later found relatively unscathed in the desert.

A second coroner's inquest ended with Chamberlain-Creighton being charged with murder and Michael Chamberlain being charged as an accessory after the fact. Chamberlain-Creighton, accused of slashing her daughter's throat with nail scissors and making it look like a dingo attack, was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor.

She was three years into her sentence, after evidence was found that backed up her version of events: the baby's jacket, found near a dingo den, which helped explain the condition of the rest of the baby's clothing. A Royal Commission, the highest form of investigation in Australia, debunked much of the forensic evidence used at trial and her conviction was overturned.

A third inquest could not determine the cause of death.

The fourth inquest heard new evidence of dingo attacks, including three fatal attacks on children since the third inquest.

Morris noted that dingo experts disagree on whether a dingo could have removed the clothing so neatly and without causing more damage.

"It would have been very difficult for a dingo to have removed Azaria from her clothing without causing more damage than what was observed on it, however it would have been possible for it to have done so," she said.

"I think it is likely that a dingo would have left the clothing more scattered, but it might not have done so," she added.

Findings of the inquest into the death of Azaria Chamberlain With files from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation