Chamberlain boys taunted at school

Press, 20 August 1983, Page 27

Chamberlain boys taunted at school

PA Sydney Aidan and Reagan Chamberlain are settling in at school after months of taunting by their classmates, according to friends of their parents and teachers. A friend of Michael and Lindy Chamberlain said the teasing came to a head in a schoolyard fight involving Aidan, in which another boy was left bleeding. During the first half of this year, teachers at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church school at Cooranbong, south-west of Newcastle, had to keep a constant watch on the Chamberlain boys. Friends said it was only now, three years after Azaria Chamberlain died, that they had begun doing well at school after winning acceptance from their classmates.

Since Reagan Chamberlain was badly injured when a bottle exploded and a piece lodged in his right eye, other children at the school have been more sympathetic to them. l 4

“For a long time the kids at the school used to tease Aidan and Reagan quite a bit,” a friend of the Chamberlains said. “They would yell ‘your mother’s a murderer’ at them. , , “They even had troubles on the school bus which took them from their home to class every day. “Some of the boys on the bus would not let Aidan and his brother get on. “If they did get on the bus they would be teased all the way to school. . . . » ‘lt got to the point where Aidan and Reagan were alsaid. Teachers at the school have said that Aidan Chamberlain has now settled in well at class.

Reagan Chamberlain, still recovering from his eye injuries, was said to be getting on better with other children in the area. The boys have not seen their mother since her Federal Court appeal failed earlier this year and she

was returned to custody in Darwin to serve the rest of her life sentence for murdering Azaria at Ayers Rock. The Chamberlain lawyers hope to appeal to the High Court.