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Character Profiles > Summer Hoyland Marisa Siketa, Jordy Lucas

Summer Hoyland 2002-2005, 2006, 2007, 2010-2013
Lives:
Lived: 26, 28, 32 Ramsay Street
Born: c. 1991/'92/'93 (later altered to c. 1993)
Parents: Max and Claire Hoyland
Siblings: Boyd and Charlie
Family Tree: Hoyland
Occupation: School Pupil, Papergirl

From the moment she set foot in Ramsay Street, Summer Hoyland was trouble. Before even being introduced to the Ramsay Street residents by her grandmother and guardian, Reverend Rosie Hoyland, Summer was conning them out of money - selling stale cookies on the pretext of raising money to repair the fire-damaged church. Not long after, she managed to con the king of con artists, Lou Carpenter, when he accidentally sold her a book full of valuable coins at a garage sale. Summer also had a tendency to eavesdrop, learn people's secrets and then reveal them at the most inappropriate moment. On her first meeting with Lou, she managed to expose his relationship with Rosie to Harold, the one person they were trying to keep it from. Some time later, Summer managed to tell Lyn Scully the truth about her terrible singing voice, something Rosie had been trying to do, with little success but slightly more subtlety, for weeks.

Summer's brother, Boyd, arrived on the scene soon after her and together the two of them got to know the neighbourhood, spotting the potential of living at Number 32, recently vacated by the Hancock family. Summer was particularly keen on one neighbour, Drew Kirk. She quickly developed a crush on him - wherever he went, she would crop up. This minor annoyance for Drew would prove to be worthwhile, however, when Summer broke into Number 22 and saved baby Ben, who had been accidentally locked in during a termite extermination. Around this time, Summer began to suffer from fainting spells. Of course, she used this condition to her advantage, pretending to faint in order to get Drew's attention and also to get herself out of any sticky situation. One such occasion occurred when Rosie was contacted by Summer's head teacher - Summer had been regularly truanting and forging her grandmother's signature on notes.

After a series of tests, Summer was diagnosed with long QT syndrome, a serious heart condition. This led to the return of her worried father, Max, who had been working on the rigs in the Timor Gap since the death of his wife, and Summer's mother, Claire. Max was especially concerned as Claire had died from an undiagnosed heart problem, but Summer and Boyd were just thrilled to have their father home and even more pleased when he decided to rent Number 32 for the three of them. However, it wasn't all plain sailing as Summer felt jealous of the closeness between Max and Boyd, feeling as though he loved her less. After another spell of truancy and some honesty between the two of them, Max and Summer managed to iron out their differences.

As a result of losing her mother at such a young age, Summer seemed to develop close relationships with older females. First there was Nina Tucker. Summer felt it her duty to matchmake between Nina and Stuart Parker's army friend, Ray. Nina was then employed by Max as Summer's piano teacher. Summer also got close to Steph Scully, who managed to treat Summer as an adult, unlike her father. Summer quickly began to see Steph as a substitute for her mother, someone she could rely on when Max simply wouldn't do. Summer was also hit hard by the death of Drew. She provided support for Libby by giving her 'Drew bear', a teddy bear that Drew had given Summer when she was ill.

Summer's affections then moved on to Stuart Parker, but it didn't last long and she quickly moved on to trying to match-make her dad with Steph. She convinced Steph to join her for a mother-daughter fashion show and encouraged Max to buy Steph a gift to say thank you. Boyd warned Summer to stop trying to find a girlfriend for their dad, but Summer just wanted happiness for him and continued to contrive situations to bring them together. But matchmaking was put to one side when Summer collapsed again at school. Surgeon Martin Cook suggested an operation, which would improve Summer's condition, but she was apprehensive about it. After talking things through with her dad, she decided to have the operation and received a lot of attention as she went into hospital. The procedure was a complete success and afterwards, Summer told Max about a film she'd seen where a little girl died during an operation. She hadn't mentioned it before because she didn't want to worry him.

Summer was quickly back to normal and acted as flower girl at Susan and Karl's wedding. When Daniel Clohesy, a friend of Boyd's whose father was hitting him, came to stay, Summer quickly developed a crush on him, even after he ate all of her cereal. She made him a necklace, but he continued to view her as nothing more than his mate's little sister. After Boyd and Daniel kept disappearing across the street, Summer eventually followed them and found them spying on the Scully bathroom. She threatened to tell Max, although caved when they promised never to do it again.

Summer was looking forward to the first day back at school in year seven - after all, it made her part of the senior year in the school. She planned to get elected school captain by giving out free lollies, although this backfired when people accused her of bribery and all her old friends starting chasing boys. Summer was also devastated and worried when Daniel went back to his home, although Max assured her that Daniel's father had changed his ways. Summer was also displeased when Joanne Blair began showing an interest in her dad, moving his attention away from Steph. Summer acted coldly towards Jo, even squirting her with ketchup during a barbeque.

Summer was delighted when Jo disappeared from her father's life, but then got a shock when she found out that Steph was seeing barman Alex Argenzio. Summer stopped speaking to Steph and even returned all her belongings that she'd borrowed. Summer also had some problems of her own when she began to be threatened by Jacinta Martin, a girl a couple of years older than her. Jacinta wanted Summer to give up her paper round, but Summer refused to budge, so Jacinta started stealing Summer's papers and making complaints. After enlisting Boyd's help, the two of them tried getting their own back, but it all resulted in more threats from Jacinta and Summer began to worry that she would have to give in. Luckily, Boyd's girlfriend, Heather Green went to the same school as Jacinta and a few words between the two of them led to Jacinta backing off completely.

Meanwhile, Summer was devastated to learn that Steph was going to be leaving town. Having since made up with Steph, Summer made her a photo frame, putting a picture of the two of them inside. Steph promised she would stay in touch with postcards and emails. On the morning of Steph's departure, Summer ran outside to wave her goodbye, quickly followed by her father. Summer was further upset when her nana Rosie announced she would be going to Papua New Guinea for three months, and Summer admitted that it felt like she would have nobody left to talk to.

Summer quickly found a new interest with her friend Lisa, as they convinced Jack Scully to coach their soccer team. Things were even more positive for Summer when Steph suddenly returned to town and finally got things together with Max. She was concerned, however, as Boyd seemed very reluctant to go along with this new situation and so she told her brother, in no uncertain terms, that she would never forgive him if he ruined things for their dad. And so, they all headed to the beach for a day out, Summer taking along her friend Lisa. The pair of them took a metal detector, and managed to wander off over the dunes onto a nudist beach! Summer was thrilled to learn that her Nana Rosie was going to fly one of her grandchildren out to Fiji for a holiday with her and was delighted when Max picked her, as he didn't want to take Boyd out of school.

Upon her return from Fiji, Summer revealed that she had witnessed a great deal of suffering and had decided to become a priest. While this amused Max and Steph, it also caused them problems as Summer tried to give away her father's clothes and money to charity. When Summer later found out that Boyd had stolen $100 from Max, she took the blame, but a conversation, overheard by Steph, revealed the truth. When Summer won some pony-riding lessons from a magazine, she decided to give them away to her friend Lisa, feeling she'd be selfish to keep them. However, Max realised how upset she was about having to do this and talked her round. Summer's behaviour gradually went back to normal when she found a new distraction, as Steph moved into number 32.

Soon after Steph moved in, Summer was thrilled when her Aunt Izzy arrived to stay. But things soon hit a downward spiral when Steph moved out suddenly. Summer was left confused, but Izzy explained to her that Steph was selfish and wasn’t ready to take on a whole family. Meanwhile, Lisa turned against Summer, saying nasty things and Max and Steph, leaving Summer feeling ostracised at school. The feud between the pair grew and Boyd got involved, threatening to flush Lisa’s head down the toilet when the girls were on an introductory day at Erinsborough High. However, after the girls’ junior soccer team won the finals, Summer and Lisa were reunited in their joy and started hatching a plan to get Max together with Lisa’s mother, Andrea. They managed to get the pair of them to attend their pony-riding lessons with them, but the parents simply ended up arguing. Meanwhile, Summer was quick to offer her support when she finally found out the truth about Steph – that she was suffering from breast cancer.

With so much going on at home, Summer ended up confiding in Joe when a problem arose at school. She explained that one of the boys in her year, Declan Sands, had started spreading rumours that she kisses like a fish. Joe decided that the only course of action would be for her to learn to defend herself, so he began to teach her boxing. When Max found out, he wasn’t thrilled about the prospect, and things got worse when Summer punched Declan in the stomach while at the coffee shop. With Steph’s support, Summer decided that she wanted to take boxing lessons, though Izzy and Max weren’t quite so keen. However, during her first lesson, Summer was surprised to find Declan at the class and even more surprised when he asked her out to the movies. After a lot of persuasion, Summer convinced her dad to let her go and it seemed that, in her mind at least, Summer was about to go on her first real date…

Summer and Declan’s relationship moved quickly and soon they were attempting their first kiss. Unfortunately, it didn’t go well and Summer made it clear that she wouldn’t tolerate a bad kisser for a boyfriend. After playing hard to get for a few weeks, Summer ended up spending the day with Sky, who took her on a fun day around town. After going down a water slide and spying on the locals, Sky told Summer how she should just be herself around boys and it would be easy. So, Summer and Declan ended up spending the day at the waterslide and spying on the people of Erinsborough. Meanwhile, Summer’s first day at high school arrived. Although she and Lisa found it very daunting, Summer had Boyd and Sky to rely on, and quickly got involved when they decided to get revenge on Erin. Unfortunately, Summer’s plan to make Erin paranoid resulted in the girl suffering from an asthma attack.

Summer’s problems at school continued when Mrs Kennedy took her anger out on her and sent her out of class. Summer and Lisa were extremely unimpressed with this unfair treatment. However, Susan apologised to the girls. When Summer then had a falling out with Lisa, she was alone on the other side of town and had to phone home and leave a message. When Max's friend, Gus heard the message, he deleted it and so Summer was left to fend for herself as an older kid started hassling her. When Summer didn’t return home, the family set out looking for her, but Gus immediately knew where to look and found her just in time. Gus then wormed his way further into her affections by helping her out when Max wouldn’t let her have a puppy. Gus offered to buy her one, in the hope that Max would be unable to say no after that. Unfortunately, it backfired, but Gus offered to look after the puppy at his place until Max relented. Of course, the whole incident pushed a further wedge between Max and his daughter, which was precisely Gus’ intention. However, when it was revealed that Gus was mentally unstable, it was decided that the best place for Summer would be with Rosie for a few weeks.

Upon her return to Ramsay Street, Summer had a new mature outlook on life, but was still delighted to learn that her aunt Izzy was going to have a baby. Having apparently grown up very quickly in only a matter of weeks, it didn’t take much convincing from Lisa for her to end her relationship with Declan. Lisa pointed out that Declan was too young for Summer, and she should be with someone more grown up, like year 10 Braydden. Lisa even lent Summer a book about witchcraft to try about cast a spell which would make Declan dump her. However, when this didn’t work, Summer went for the more direct approach and told him things were over. Unfortunately, she was humiliated when Braydden barely acknowledged her, and things got worse when she caught Lisa and Declan kissing in the Coffee Shop. This resulted in a fight, and when Susan caught them, Summer was suspended. To get her own back, she cast a spell on Lisa, but was shocked to learn that the witches’ code meant that she would suffer herself, threefold. After two incidents – the shelves in the fridge collapsing, and almost being run down on her bike – she worried that the third incident would occur at her dad’s wedding to Steph. On the big day, during which Max and Steph had eloped to a small country town for a simply wedding, Summer’s dress got caught in the door and ripped – but she was just happy that her worries were finally over.

It was during the family’s holiday after the wedding that Summer met the next great love of her life – Caleb Wilson. The two spent time together at the resort, and he gave her his number before he left. Unfortunately, Max threw Summer into the pool as she was holding the piece of paper, and Summer couldn’t read it. Steph offered to help Summer, and they wrote out a list of all the possible combinations that the smeared numbers could be. Summer managed to use most of the phones in the street trying to contact Caleb, but with no luck. When Steph suddenly remembered chatting to Caleb’s father at the bar, and with the surname Wilson, Boyd was able to go online and track him down. It turned out that Caleb was the son of billionnaire Roger Wilson and Summer excitedly emailed him. She was concerned when he didn’t reply for a while, but everyone, except a worried Max, was delighted for Summer when Caleb suddenly arrived in a limo and took Summer to his father’s leisure club.

Although Caleb lived in a mansion on an island off the coast of Queensland, his father made regular business trips to Melbourne and so Caleb got to see more of Summer. He visited again and they made a trip to a go kart track, which Roger had hired out just for them. Roger even managed to win Max over by doing some business with the pub. The next time Caleb came, Summer was being forced to clean the house and couldn’t go out, so Caleb hired some cleaners, leaving Max furious. Summer’s tales about her boyfriend led to teasing at school, as Lisa failed to believe that the mysterious Caleb actually existed. However, when Caleb turned up on a scooter to take Summer out for lunch, Lisa was forced to eat her words. Everything was going well, and Summer couldn’t have been happier, until Caleb sent her a letter explaining that he’d met someone else. She was devastated, but managed to get her own back when Caleb rang, as Jack answered the phone and pretended to be her new boyfriend, leaving Caleb speechless.

When Summer later found out that Caleb was returning to town, she decided to get her own back on him. She invited him round, and started talking about all of the expensive ways he could win her over. She then ordered huge amounts of food at the Coffee Shop, but was shocked when Caleb admitted that he had no money. He explained that his parents were separated, and his rich father spent loads of money to impress him, but he was now back living with his mum in Eden Hills. Summer and Caleb were forced to wash up in the Coffee Shop to pay off their debts. They got a taste for doing odd jobs, and started helping Lyn Scully around the house. However, when she realised that Caleb was getting all the manual work, she decided to do a test on the locals and dress up as a boy to see if she was treated any differently. Although Lyn went along with the whole thing, it was obvious that she knew that it was Summer under the hoodie.

Having been dating for a while, Summer became uncomfortable when Caleb wanted them to start “pashing”. Deciding to stand up for herself, she met with him and made her views clear but, by the end of their picnic, he was trying it on once again. Summer decided that enough was enough and promptly dumped him. When one of Lisa’s parties then led to Summer being cajoled into smoking, she realised that she was becoming something of a walkover and needed to find herself a new identity. She settled upon learning the piano and joined the club at school. To her horror, she realised that all of the other members were nerds, and Summer was left torn between Lisa and the cool gang, or Penny and the nerds. As Lisa’s behaviour became crueller, stealing Penny’s diary and reading it out to everyone at school, Summer stuck up for her new friend and chose to side with the nerds.

Meanwhile, Summer’s problems at home took over, as Boyd’s behaviour became increasingly strange. As he’d been taking human growth hormones, following a sting working at a gym, he seemed to be able to explain it all away, but Summer was worried when she caught him throwing up and later researching mental illness on the internet. Although Summer shared her fears with Steph, since Max was away working on the rigs for six weeks, medical tests proved to be inconclusive. But one afternoon when Boyd took Summer for a trip to visit their dead mother, who he believed was still alive, she realised how ill he was. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with adolescent schizophrenia and Summer was beside herself with worry. Things only got worse when new neighbour Bree Timmins struck up a friendship with Summer and convinced her that schizophrenia was hereditary. Luckily, Susan managed to convince Summer otherwise, but it soon emerged that Boyd had been misdiagnosed and actually had a brain tumour. As he languished in a coma, Summer attempted to keep the family together and made them realise that she was now old enough to understand the implications of what was happening. Happily though, Summer was in for two doses of good news when, not only did Boyd wake up, but her grandfather, Bobby, arrived for a surprise visit.

Ladies’ man Bobby quickly found a way to manipulate his granddaughter when he gave her his mobile phone to use. He also gave her a list of women and the excuses to use, should they phone him. Summer and Bree were happy to use the phone to evict contestants from Big Brother, but it was all quickly taken away when Max found out. Meanwhile, the two girls prepared to enter the school’s spelling bee, with the hope of going on to the national championships and winning $15,000. Summer was quickly knocked out of the contest, but found another talent as her music teacher put her forward for a scholarship at the Gillard School of Performance and Music. The boarding school was located in Wangaratta and Summer was reluctant to leave, particularly as her dad and Steph were in the final stages of adopting a baby and she wanted to be a big sister to it. However, when Max played Summer a tape of her mother playing the piano, Summer changed her mind and decided that, with some training from Bree, she would at least sit the entrance exam. After passing it, Summer was required to leave almost immediately. However, when Boyd decided that he was going to help Kayla Thomas so that she could raise her own baby, instead of Max and Steph adopting it, it soured Summer’s final day at home as the family was split in two. Fortunately, the siblings managed to put their differences aside and, after saying goodbye to Bree and Nana Scully, Summer’s family drove her out of Ramsay Street towards her next big adventure at boarding school.

At the end of her first term, Summer returned home to spend Christmas in Erinsborough with her family. However, she found that quite a few things had changed, with Bree having befriended Rachel Kinski, whose father, Alex, was engaged to Susan. Summer was upset as Bree often ignored her as she chatted to Rachel, and the girls had a falling out as Summer tried to chat to Zeke, Rachel’s brother, who was also Bree’s ex-boyfriend. However, on the advice of her mother, Janelle, Bree started playing the two girls off against each other in the hope that they would both try harder for her friendship and, when Summer and Rachel discovered the scheme, they stopped talking to Bree. With a little convincing from their fathers, Summer and Bree patched things up and tried to help Rachel, who had just learnt that her father was terminally ill and had only days to live. Although Summer tried to be supportive, having lost her own mother at a young age, Rachel refused to listen. And so, after spending Christmas morning with her family, Summer left for the school’s summer trip to Europe.

A few months later, Summer was visiting Nana Rosie in Fiji when she contracted Dengue fever. Although Steph was heavily pregnant and had been diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time, she assured Max that she would be fine for a few weeks and so he flew out to be with his daughter. Although Summer quickly recovered, it was still a few days before her temperature had returned to normal and she was allowed to fly back home with her father. Back in Erinsborough, Steph’s condition was worsening and, in hospital, she finally agreed to have a Caesarean section so her cancer treatment could begin. On the same evening, Summer and Max arrived back from Fiji and, as Boyd drove them to the hospital, Steph suddenly went into labour. By the next morning, Summer was delighted to have a baby brother, Charlie and set about catching up with Bree, Rachel and Zeke. She was surprised to find out that Rachel and Bree weren’t speaking, due to Rachel having a crush on Bree’s older brother, Stingray and made it her mission to reunite them. When a contest was announced at the Scarlet Bar, to win a keyboard by keeping your hands on the keys for as long as possible, Summer convinced both Rachel and Bree to take part on her behalf. The two kept their fingers on the keys all night and, by the next morning, they’d put their differences behind them. Before long, it was time for Summer to return to Wangaratta and she said her farewells to her family and friends once more.

Three months later, having heard the news that Boyd was planning to marry his girlfriend, Bree's older sister, Janae, Summer rushed back to Erinsborough to help with the organising. But she was disappointed to realise that, due to the strong objections of Max and Janelle, the young couple had decided to elope. With Summer and Bree the only ones on Boyd and Janae's side, they were let in on the secret and invited to the ceremony at the town hall. However, as they all waited, Summer realised that it wasn't fair for Max, Steph and Janelle to miss out and she phoned them and filled them in on what was happening. Then, as the celebrant tried to begin the service, Bree and Summer did their best to stall things, by pretending the camera wasn't working or suffering a sudden coughing fit. In the end, their efforts weren't enough and the young couple were married, with their parents rushing in afterwards. Although Steph and Janelle offered their congratulations, Max still refused to accept the marriage, even bursting in at the reception with claims that Janae had used a fake birth certificate as she wasn't old enough to marry with parental consent. Although this was true, Boyd stood up to his father and said that their marriage was still legal in their eyes and he would never destroy it. After all of the drama, and with some money Steph had given them as a wedding gift, Boyd and Janae drove out of Ramsay Street for their honeymoon, with Summer, Janelle and Steph happily waving them off.

Over the months that followed, Steph and Max's marriage started to suffer, as he received unwanted attention from nurse Katya Kinski, leading to Max running down and killing Cameron Robinson, mistaking him for his identical twin, Robert, who had been stalking Katya. This led to Cameron's distraught sister, Elle taking a terrible revenge on Max and allowing him to believe that he was losing his mind, by stealing things and moving baby Charlie's pram into the road. By the time Elle realised what a horrible mistake she'd made, Max had admitted himself to the psychiatric ward and, deciding that his family would be better off without him, he then walked out and boarded a bus. Steph, meanwhile, had been forced to tell Summer everything, but told her to stick at Gillard, as she couldn't do anything at home anyway. Summer failed to listen and later turned up at the Hoyland house, announcing that she'd quit school and would be returning to Erinsborough permanently. Steph, Lyn and Toadie weren't convinced that it was the right decision, and tried subtle methods of convincing Summer to return to Wangaratta, as she spoke to Susan about re-enrolling at Erinsborough High. Eventually though, Lyn got through to the young girl, reminding her how much Max would want her to stick with it, and how unhappy it would make Steph if she just gave up. Summer realised that Lyn was right, and asked for someone to take her to the train station.

Though Max returned a couple of months later, it was obvious that his marriage to Steph had suffered too much and they could never go back to the way they were. By the time Summer was able to return home for a visit, she could see how much things had changed, but was still devastated when they told her and Boyd that they were splitting up, and that Max was moving to Sale to take a job on the rigs. However, Steph assured Summer that she would always be a daughter to her and she was welcome to come and visit Charlie, and her home in Ramsay Street, whenever she wanted.

After being expelled from Gillard, Summer decided to return to Erinsborough, hopeful that Steph would let her stay again. But with Steph away, Summer failed to track her down at the garage or the bar, and was instead mistaken for a burglar, with various Ramsay Street residents trying to catch her and find out what she was up to. Eventually caught on Ramsay Street and taken back to number 26, Summer was pleased when her 'Nan' Lyn walked out and immediately gave her a hug, welcoming her back to town. Summer explained her situation, telling Lyn that Max was away on the rigs for at least another six months, so she needed somewhere to stay before breaking the news to him about her expulsion. Having blossomed into a beautiful 16-year-old, it wasn't long before Summer was grabbing the attention of two of her new neighbours - cousins Harry Ramsay and Andrew Robinson, who both made it obvious that they'd like to get to know her a lot better.

Trivia Notes
• Summer was played by Marisa Siketa between 2002 and 2007, before Jordy Lucas took over the role in 2010
• Originally nine years old, Summer's age increased slightly during her initial time on Ramsay Street, though was returned to 16, her correct age, when she rejoined the cast in 2010

Tenure
4006-4767, 4864-4875, 4926-4940, 4998-4999, 5083-5084. 5146, 5150, 5859-