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Character Profiles > Stuart Parker Blair McDonough

Stuart 'Stu' Richard Parker 2002-2006, 2018, 2022
Lived: 28, 30 Ramsay Street, Libby and Drew's flat
Parents: Jim and Kitty Parker
Marital Status: Sindi Watts (2005-?; Separated)
Siblings: Steve and Ned
Family Tree: Parker
Occupation: Mechanic at Carpenter's Mechanics, Hospital Porter at Erinsborough & District Hospital, Chauffeur, Police Officer

Stuart grew up in Oakey, Queensland, the same small town as Drew Kirk. Drew was good friends with Stuart's older brother, Stevo, and Stuart met up with Libby and Drew when they attended the Oakey rodeo in December 2001.

Not long after the rodeo, Stuart arrived unexpectedly in Erinsborough. He was unwilling to reveal his reasons for leaving Oakey, but managed to talk his way onto Libby and Drew's sofa. Stuart was impressed with the women of Erinsborough, quickly taking a shine to both Felicity and Dee. Stuart was a trained mechanic and soon scored a job working alongside Drew at Carpenter Mechanics. After a few false starts, Stuart and Dione started dating. However, Stuart had outstayed his welcome at the flat, as Libby tried to adjust to baby Ben's arrival, and so he moved out. For a few weeks, Stuart tried to avoid giving out his address and inviting people over, until Dee discovered him sleeping on the floor of the garage. Feeling sorry for him, she offered him the couch at Number 30, an arrangement that became permanent when Matt Hancock moved out.

However, just as Stuart was becoming settled in Erinsborough, his past came back to haunt him. While his relationship with Dee was already on shaky ground, he revealed that, on the eve of his wedding, he had caught his fiancee in bed with his best mate. Then, who should arrive in Erinsborough but Tracey Slattery, the unfaithful fiancee. Stuart found it difficult to even be courteous to Tracey and she soon got the picture and went back to Oakey. Unfortunately, her visit brought about the end of Stuart and Dee's relationship, as she realised they weren't going anywhere. To make matters worse, Stuart was then humiliated by Damian, Tracy's brother, when he came to Erinsborough to get revenge, leaving Stu naked and handcuffed to Toadie's car. Stu had another brush with public displays of flesh when he agreed to pose for Rosie's Hunks of Erinsborough calendar, in aid of the church, along with a lost bet with Stephanie, repaid with a streak in a skimpy tutu along Lassiter's Lake.

Not long after, Stuart proved himself to be a good friend to Flick after the disaster of Steph's wedding day. While everyone else was very harsh on Flick for what she'd done, Stuart followed her when she fled to Sydney, offering her a shoulder to cry on. Of course, it wasn't all entirely selfless on Stuart's part, as he was developing feelings for her, but he realised it would benefit nobody to reveal this, so he brought her back to Erinsborough to face up to things. Unfortunately, helping out Flick led to Stuart losing his job at the garage, as Drew strongly disapproved of what she had done. Felicity had realised that Stu had feelings for her, but tried to let him down gently, leaving Stuart embarassed and contemplating his future in Erinsborough.

Stuart had often thought about joining the army, having applied the year before, his time limit to accept a place was about to expire. He decided, with nothing left to lose, to move away and enrol. Here he met Ray Milsome, who, on his leave, went to Erinsborough and caused trouble for Dee and Toadie. Stuart clearly wasn't happy in the army from the beginning, he clashed with his sergeant and generally messed things up, with one small victory when he surprised even himself by completing an assault course ahead of most of the other soldiers. However, when his time came to either sign up for five years or leave, Stuart decided to head back to Erinsborough, where he scored a job at the hospital as a porter.

When Felicity took off for a while, to travel around the USA with Tad, Stuart began to develop a close friendship with her sister, Steph. The two of them found they had a lot in common and began hanging out, although never crossing the line into anything more serious. Stuart helped Steph when her ex-boyfriend, Mitch Foster, returned to town and set her up as an accomplice when he robbed Moco. They shared one impulsive kiss, but both were quite embarassed and never spoke about it. The return of Flick brought things to a head. She had realised she had feelings for Stuart, but thought, like most people, that he was now more interested in Steph. In an attempt to get over both of them, Stuart began seeing Amanda Cooper, a girl who had picked him up in the pub after recognising him from his calendar picture. But it was obvious to everyone, particularly Amanda, that Stuart wasn't over Flick, and so she left them to their own devices.

The death of Drew hit Stuart badly, not least since he had once witnessed a man die from a riding fall. They had grown up together and while in Oakey for the funeral, Stuart promised Libby that he would always be there for her. Returning to Erinsborough, Stuart decided to quit his job at the hospital and, with Steph's help, keep Carpenters Mechanics in business. After Stuart received the loan of a limousine as payment for some repairs, Flick saw a business opportunity. After persuading Chloe Lambert, Stu started a limo hire service to rival the existing one at Lassiter's existing one. This led to the pair of them sharing a kiss after a night out in the limo, then sharing a night in it after running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere. Flick and Stuart were finally an item, but it wasn't to last long.

Flick broke the news to Stuart that she'd decided to apply for a job at the Lassiter's branch in New York. Stuart understood her reasons, primarily to provide a friendly face for Michelle while she was on her school exchange, but he was still devastated. Deciding to make the most of their final few weeks together, at least for now, they went away on a camping trip in the bush. However, Flick had only recently passed her test and was quite nervous on the roads. She lost concentration for a few seconds and the camper van came off the road and was left teetering precariously on the edge of a steep cliff. Flick managed to climb out the back, but the van tipped over with Stuart still inside and rolled down the hillside, smashing into pieces as it went.

Fortunately, Stuart escaped with only minor cuts and bruises after originally thinking his arm was broken. However, trapped in the bush and with rain setting in, Stu and Flick were forced to make a shelter and carry on searching for help in the morning. They eventually found a small bush ranger's cabin, but Stuart was suffering from hypothermia and Flick was forced to perform first aid techniques to restore the blood flow. After a night in the cabin, the ranger found them and they were taken to hospital. Once there, Flick learnt that Michelle's New York trip was off, so she too could stay in Erinsborough.

Stuart wasn't happy with this decision, however. As much as he wanted Flick to stay in town, he didn't want to be responsible for her missing out on such a huge opportunity. And so, they sadly spent their last few days together. On her final day in Erinsborough, Stuart surprised Flick by proposing, she accepted. The next day, Stu joined the Scully family at the airport to say goodbye, but at the last minute she realised she'd left the ring at home. Stuart rushed back to Number 26 to get it, getting stopped by a cop for speeding, but just making it back in time to say goodbye to Flick. Stuart then spent hours on the phone to Flick and when he received some photos from her, seeing her pictured with other guys forced him into a decision - he was going to New York. However, his money situation said otherwise and he resolved to get there eventually. He also began spending more and more time with Libby Kennedy and baby Ben, after remembering his promise to be there for them both whenever they needed him.

Susan and Karl quickly noticed how much time Stuart was spending around Libby and how reliant they were becoming on each other. They tried to discourage them from spending so much time together, suggesting that Libby hadn't truly dealt with her grief over Drew. When Stuart found out that Drew had visited a jeweller and put aside a ring for Libby, he went and paid off the final installment, although Susan and Karl told him not to tell Libby about the ring. However, after a moving speech about missing Drew on her birthday, Stu gave her the ring. Libby's parents were annoyed and Susan told Stuart to back off a bit. Libby was annoyed when she found out about this and told them that she would choose who she did and didn't spend time with. However, one afternoon when he was looking after Ben, the baby called him 'Dada', leaving Stuart in an embarassing situation. Stu chose not to tell Libby about the incident.

Later on that day, he got a phonecall from Flick. Afterwards, he realised how different their lives had become and admitted to Libby that he thought he'd made a mistake getting engaged. Soon after, he decided to write a letter to Flick, explaining his decision, but he really couldn't go through with it. Then he got a phone-call, with the mystery caller saying that they knew his 'dirty little secret'. Stuart quickly dismissed it, and that day he was surprised when Max brought Summer and Boyd around to apologise. Stuart quickly made sure that the Hoyland children had plenty to do at number 30.

Meanwhile, Stuart found that Libby was beginning to distance herself slightly from him. The situation was further aggravated when Ben called   Stuart 'Dada' again, this time infront of Susan, Karl and Libby herself. This forced Libby to almost completely cut her ties with Stuart. Stuart himself made the decision to phone Flick in New York and tell her that the engagement was off. Fortunately, Flick had also been having second thoughts and their split was amicable. Joe, however, didn't take the news quite so well and was angry with Stuart - until he heard that Flick wasn't really that upset. Stuart decided to take the opportunity, now that he was a free man, to tell Libby how he felt. Libby was horrified by Stuart's declaration of love and told him it was too soon after Drew for her even to consider seeing someone else. Stuart and Libby kept out of each other's way, until one evening at the pub when they were both in the same place at the same time. The atmosphere was tense between them and Stuart realised that the situation wasn't going to change for a while. Soon after, his mother rang from Oakey and his plans for a holiday in the sun were shattered when she announced that she wanted him to spend his holiday from work back home in the country.

Upon his return from Oakey, Stuart found that Connor had moved in and that number 30 had become "The House Of Trouser". Fully getting into the blokey spirit of it all, Stuart showed that he had become used to being waited on by his mother as he used Connor as his personal waiter. Soon after, country boy Stu was surprised to find a horse wandering around the street, but was very pleased to meet the woman responsible for its escape - Kat Riley.

After a few dates, Stu began to find life difficult with Kat. The fact that she could beat him at darts, pool and pretty much everything left him feeling embarrassed and her close friendships with other men left him feeling very jealous. After calling things off with her, he proceeded to play hard to get, hoping that he could reverse the roles in the relationship, with little success. Meanwhile, Stu was also finding it hard running the garage on his own, so he decided to advertise for an apprentice. Steph dropped many hints that she'd love the job, but Stuart told her that he didn't think he'd get much work done with her around. However, Dee's memorial service made him think, and he decided to offer her the apprenticeship after all. Stu also proved a great support for Toadie after Dee's disappearance, but was in for a huge shock when he found himself under suspicion as the police report revealed that the car Toadie was driving had not been roadworthy.

Toadie was quick to aportion blame and threw Stuart out onto the street. After staying with mates for a while, he agreed to move into a flat with Libby and Ben. After Stu was found innocent of any wrongdoing at the hearing into Dee’s death, Toadie decided to sue him himself. Luckily, Angie returned just in time to stop her son from falling to pieces, and convinced him that lashing out at his friends would not bring Dee back. Toadie apoligised to Stuart, and when Steph needed somewhere to stay, she moved into the flat, so Stu returned to number 30.

After meeting hippy Kaveesha Jones, Stuart decided she was the girl for him and pretended to be interested in yoga and vegetarianism to win her over. After a few weeks of keeping up the pretence, she invited him along to the One World festival. However, Kaveesha overheard Stu talking to Connor about his fake interest in the environment and she promptly dumped him. Outside, Stuart met Jonathan Verne, who explained that he’d be giving a talk later, about his Life Mechanics group. When Stu listened to his words, he found himself relating to the idea of getting back in control of his life and not letting people walk all over him. While several of his friends scoffed at the idea, claiming he had joined a cult, Stu was spending more and more time with Jonathan.

After dragging Taj along to several of the meetings, Stuart found himself getting in deeper, donating money and upset when his friend started asking questions. When Taj decided to leave the group, he tried to convince Stuart to go too, but Stu took one look at Jonathan and stayed put. As the weeks went on, Stuart’s involvement with Life Mechanics led to several disagreements with his friends and neighbours. Harold wasn’t happy when Stu tried to hand out leaflets in the coffee shop, while Susan heard all about the group from Taj and voiced her concerns to Stuart. He accused Susan of interfering in something she didn’t understand. Meanwhile, Stuart had been running his own meetings as a favour to Jonathan. When he learnt that people were being ‘planted’ at the meetings to drum up donations, Stu wasn’t happy, but he continued his talks none-the-less, stating that he didn’t need any ‘plants’ at his meetings. When Susan came along to one of his meetings, however, and started asking lots of awkward questions, Stuart was angry and upset that she would humiliate him like that. He went to the Kennedy house and accused her of attempting to ruin things for him when he’s finally found something that makes him happy...

When his mates started to turn against him and even tried to get him out of the group, Stuart decided he had no other option but to move out of number 30. Jonathan was quick to offer him a room at his place, which quickly turned into Stuart house-sitting while Jonathan went interstate for a while. Stuart agreed to become the state leader for the division of Life Mechanics and signed a contract. With Jonathan gone, Stu began to enjoy his new position of authority and struck up a relationship with Natasha, one of the girls from a Life Mechanics meeting. Meanwhile, Toadie sent his old mate Tony Simpson to interview Stuart for the newspaper he worked on. This was the beginning of the end as, a few days later, a group of journalists turned up on Stu’s doorstep demanding answers about Life Mechanics. It seemed that Jonathan had been conning money out of people all over the country, then vanishing. Stuart tried in vain to find Jonathan, but he knew deep down that he was now alone. He retreated into himself for a while, before attempting to build bridges with his old mates. Most of them told him to get lost, but Taj felt differently and tracked down his old mate to Lassiter’s carpark. With nowhere left to go, Stuart was now living by candlelight in his car…

Taj and Connor helped their friend to find somewhere to stay – at Taj’s uncle’s caravan park. While staying there, Stuart found himself the victim of a young thief, who would steal food through the window. Stuart wasn’t particularly bothered, until the boy stole his comic books. He then gave chase and they ended up having a drink and bite to eat together. The boy introduced himself as Clarkey and his dog as Scruffy. After a few more chats, Stuart realised that the boy was Jamie Clarke – the very person the Kennedys had been searching for to give some share certificates, found under their kitchen lino, to. After a visit to the Kennedy house, Jamie was annoyed to realise that since he was under 18, he’d need the permission of his father, Des, to claim the shares. Stuart was confused by Jamie’s refusal to get in contact with his father. Then, the pair had a falling out when Jamie found newspaper stories about Life Mechanics and wondered if Stuart was simply using him to get to his money. The boys made up and Jamie confided that his father was in a psychiatric hospital after suffering from a mental breakdown. He explained that he’d been sent to a home, where he’d been the target of abuse by the older boys. With Christmas approaching, Stuart eventually convinced Jamie to get in contact with Des, and, with some help from Harold, Jamie returned to Adelaide, leaving Scruffy in the care of Stuart.

Toadie was impressed with Stuart’s behaviour and came to realise that his friend had truly changed since his Life Mechanics days. The two friends shared a few beers and Toadie invited Stu to spend Christmas with the Rebecchi clan in Colac. Upon their return, they helped Taj to win a job on a film in Sydney, leaving an empty room at number 30 and the perfect excuse for Stuart to move back in. Having jacked in his job at the garage, Stuart resorted to fixing cars for mates in the driveway of number 30, leading to Lou reporting him for using a residential property for business. Connor quickly saved Stuart from any further trouble by lying that his friend was in the process of applying to join the police. The cop, Gary Hume, took Stuart out for a drink and told him about life in the force, leading to Stuart seriously considering the idea. After visiting an open day, Stuart decided that he would apply and set about training for his medical…

However, things soon proved to be tough for Stuart, as he crossed paths with Senior Constable Allan Steiger. Steiger was unimpressed with Stuart’s history of quitting his garage and hospital jobs, as well as the army, and his involvement with Life Mechanics. It was soon obvious that Stuart would have to work hard to prove himself. As Steiger tried to show that Stu wasn’t a team player, it only made Stuart more determined to prove him wrong. When Stuart was then assigned to keep watch over a young streaker during a riot at a footie game, he was horrified to find out that the boy was actually Toadie’s cousin, Scott, who would be coming to stay at number 30 for a while. It seemed that things were improving when Stuart managed to complete a tough driving course, but the final straw came when Steiger humiliated Stuart during a self-defence class. Stuart snapped and punched Steiger before walking out. Luckily, Steiger visited him at home and managed to convince him not to give up.

When Toadie mysteriously vanished shortly afterwards, Stu was the only person who found it to be strange. Whilst everyone else thought he was probably just trying to clear his head, Stuart was convinced that Rocco Cammeniti was involved. His obsession with this led to problems at home and at work, as Stuart forced his suspicions on everyone around him, and tried to get the police to probe further into Rocco’s affairs. Whilst Stuart was back on track with his training, and looked set to qualify as an officer, he began to risk it all in order to learn the truth about Toadie. Mysterious emails began arriving, apparently from Toadie, telling everyone not to worry about him, but Stuart, and gradually Toadie's girlfriend, Sindi Watts too, remained unconvinced. Eventually, the proof they needed came from Libby, when she returned to Erinsborough from Adelaide. She stopped at a small country hospital with Ben, where she bumped into Rocco, unaware of who he was. Seeing a photograph that Sindi had, Libby explained where she’d met the man, and Stu and Sindi set off to the hospital, where they found both Toadie and Rocco. Toadie was in a coma, following a car accident, while Rocco attempted to make a run for it. Stuart managed to catch him and arrest him, which seemed to stop his seniors from completely throwing him off the course. Unfortunately, his trip to the country had meant that he missed his final exam, but Steiger, showing rare sympathy, allowed him to re-sit, and he passed.

Stuart’s first day as a police officer saw him paired up with Senior Constable Olivia McPherson. They got on like a house on fire, and she helped him through his awkward first days, as he struggled to deal with informing relatives of accidents, and managed to pull over every car he saw for the smallest of reasons. Stuart was also beginning to develop a crush on Olivia, finding her easy to talk to, but realised that as colleagues, nothing could happen between them. Not long after starting work, Stuart saw Olivia accepting a package from a man in a car park, but wrote it off as nothing, not wanting to cause trouble in his first few weeks on the job. Stuart admitted to his friend Jack Scully that he was falling for his boss at work, and Jack encouraged Stu to go for it. Stuart found things awkward, as Olivia avoided his invitations out to clubs as friends and was shocked when he asked if they could spend more time together “out of uniform”. He then had to deal with the realisation that he’d crossed the line with his colleague.

However, when Olivia’s double life was revealed to Jack, and he ended up in a car crash while still suffering the effects of drugs, she stopped seeing Jack and moved on to Stuart. He was thrilled to have finally won her affections, despite the fact that it caused some problems at work. However, as their relation grew more and more intense, she found it difficult to deceive him, and told him that she’d been involved in some building site robberies. She explained to Stuart that she’d started going out partying more and more to forget her work, but had gotten herself into so much debt that she’d been forced to become corrupt. Stuart sat on this information for a few days, but in the end, he was unable to keep it from his bosses. He reported her, despite the advice of his seniors, and Olivia left the police force, and Stuart’s life. During their last moments together, she told him that she still admired his integrity. Unfortunately, Stuart’s colleagues weren’t so keen on working with a snitch, and morale began to suffer. In the end, despite his protests, Stuart was told by Allan Steiger to take a few weeks off and let the whole thing blow over…

Returning to work, Stuart found himself with a new partner, Peter Parthimos. Peter made it clear from the outset that although they were colleagues, they would never be friends. When Peter stepped outside of the law to threaten a criminal, he accused Stuart of running straight to their superiors, but Stu quickly made it clear that it wasn’t something he made a habit of. This proved to be a turning point in their relationship, and things finally began to settle down for Stu at work.

At home, however, relations were proving to be difficult. Stuart had never made a secret of his dislike for Toadie’s girlfriend, Sindi, but their constant arguments were proving tiresome for everyone else. With Toadie and Sindi’s relationship on the rocks, she found Stuart in the garage one night after they’d had a barbeque. As they found themselves having another fight, this one ended unexpectedly – with a kiss. Stuart tried to put the whole thing behind him, so he was surprised when a guilty Sindi admitted everything to Toadie. Toadie was furious and took it all out on Stu, telling him to move out. However, since Toadie, Stu and Connor had bought the house from Lou, it wasn’t going to be that simple. Stu announced that he was going to stay, despite the terrible atmosphere in the house. When Toadie and Sindi got back together and an uneasy truce was called, it seemed that things were finally getting back to normal – until Stu admitted to Connor that he had fallen for Sindi.

After Toadie then dumped Sindi during a weekend away, Stuart made sure that he was there for her. Before long, the three of them found themselves caught up in a siege at the local Pacific Bank. When the robber, Glen Richards, forced Sindi to choose one of the hostages – Toadie or Stu – to remain in the bank, she picked Stuart. He tried desperately to keep his identity as a cop a secret, but when Richards turned the radio on, he heard a report and his cover was blown. Luckily, Stuart managed to talk the man round and the siege ended peacefully, with Stu being hailed a local hero and receiving a cheque from the bank. In the meantime, Sindi and Stu could no longer resist each other and had begun a secret affair, hoping to wait a while before breaking the news to Toadie.

They decided that they would have to tell Toadie eventually, but every opportunity seemed to be overshadowed by something else. Fate then stepped in, as a huge fire broke out at the pub and Stuart was forced to race in and rescue an unconscious Sindi. The pub collapsed with the two of them trapped inside, and Toadie forced the rescuers not to give up. Finally, Sindi managed to get her phone and she got in touch with Toadie. Sindi and Stu were rescued, but that wasn’t the end of their problems, as Stuart had severe injuries to his eyes. Toadie saw them together, and realised that they’d been seeing each other, but he didn’t stand in their way. When released from hospital, Stuart decided to move into number 28 with Sindi, where she could look after him as he waited to have the bandages removed from his eyes. Although the doctors warned him that there was only a 50% chance of his sight being fully recovered, Stu was determined to carry on as normally as possible. When he overheard a known criminal talking on his phone outside Grease Monkeys, he tried to get Sindi to help him follow the man. Unfortunately, the followed the wrong person and ended up assaulting a local barrister, but Stu’s bosses were very understanding. This was little comfort to Stuart though, as his self-confidence hit rock bottom.

As the depression began to sink in, Stuart walked out one day with the intention of going to the beach. However, the bus driver didn’t tell him when it was his stop and he ended up lost and stranded. As he argued with Sindi on the phone, he wandered into the road and was clipped by a passing car. Although his injuries were minor, he ended up taking his frustrations out on Sindi, accusing her of being to blame for everything, since it was rescuing her that had caused his blindness. After briefly splitting up, with Stuart moving back to number 30, they patched things up. Stuart then showed Sindi a talking scanner that he’d received on loan and she was determined to raise the cash to buy him one. Soon after, Stuart became suspicious of Sindi’s behaviour and noticed that she smelt of cigarettes and alcohol, forcing her to admit that she’d returned to her old lap-dancing club to raise money. He forced her to quit, which she did, but he then found out that there was an operation available to him that could restore his sight – but it would cost $50,000.

Determined that Stu would see again, Sindi arranged to spend one night with an old client, Gary Evans, to raise a large chunk of the cash. Although she only told Carmella of her plans, it wasn’t long before Stuart realised that something was going on and got the information. He and Toadie went there to find Sindi emerging from the room clutching a cheque. A disgusted Stuart promptly told her that he never wanted to see her again but, after a chat with Connor, had a change of heart. He found out that Sindi had actually flipped a coin with Gary to determine what would happen, and she hadn’t slept with him after all. He also found out that Sindi had given the cheque to Harold for charity and that they had no chance of getting it back. Realising what had happened, Liljana Bishop suggested that the benevolent organisation she worked for, The Helen Daniels Trust, could donate the money. Her boss, Paul Robinson, agreed and Stuart was delighted to learn that the operation could go ahead. However, a chat with Karl Kennedy soon brought Stu and Sindi back down to earth, as he explained that the op only had a 50% chance of success and Stuart could end up losing his sight completely, with no hope of it ever returning.

As the day of the operation arrived, Stuart was relieved when everything went well, but during the celebrations, he quickly picked up on the tension between Sindi and Susan’s new boyfriend, Gary. Sindi was forced to admit that it was the same Gary who had wanted to sleep with her and Stu told her that she had to tell Susan. Gary, however, convinced Sindi that he had changed and so the relationship continued. However, one afternoon Stuart was telling Toadie and Connor about the whole sordid situation, when he said Susan’s name, causing his voice-activated phone to dial her number and leave a message. Having heard the truth, Susan quickly dumped Gary and almost lost the friendship of Sindi, who started spending all of her time at number 30. In the end, though, they patched up their differences, but Stu soon had something new to worry about.

When Sindi scored a job at the new Scarlet Bar, she became upset one night to realise that her old school was having a reunion there and she hadn’t been invited. When Stuart arrived to comfort her, one of Sindi’s ex-classmates, Sheena Wilson, told him to be careful, as Sindi wasn’t to be trusted, mentioning someone called Kelly Weaver as one of her victims. Stu thought little of it, until one day when new neighbour Janae Timmins started flirting with him, witnessed by Sindi. Suddenly, Janae had been knocked off her bike by Sindi opening her car door and Stu began to worry that it wasn’t simply an accident. He managed to track Kelly down to the Erinsborough Hospice and was surprised to find that she was Sindi’s best friend, and Sindi had been visiting her for years, following an accident which had left Kelly a paraplegic. When Sindi found out about Stu’s digging into her past, she immediately dumped him, accusing him of no longer trusting her and he realised that he would have a fight on his hands to win her back.

As with most of Stu and Sindi’s fights, it didn’t last long. However, when Stuart went over to number 28 for dinner soon after, as the pair attempted to patch things up, he was shocked to find Sindi’s new housemate, Liljana Bishop, unconscious on the floor. Sindi, meanwhile, was hiding behind the door and Stu told her to call an ambulance. Fortunately, it wasn’t needed, as Lil came to and had a check-up at the surgery. Sindi admitted that she felt terrible as she’d been cooking and had accidentally got butter on the ladder whilst Lil was cleaning, causing her to slip. Soon after, Sindi had another accident as she hit Susan in the head with a cupboard door, and she told Stu that she was worried that she was jinxed. She decided to have hypnotherapy to try and get to the bottom of her bad luck. Stuart was alarmed when Sindi became extremely distressed halfway through the session and began to remember a disturbing incident from her childhood. Stu stood by her as she struggled to remember things, but was relieved when she admitted that the incident was actually her being “attacked” by a fur coat when she got locked in her aunt’s cupboard as a child.

Stuart was shocked when Sindi attempted to prove her devotion to him by proposing in front of a crowded Scarlet Bar. He happily accepted, but Toadie wasn’t convinced that the engagement was a good idea and the two best friends soon fell out, with Stu asking Connor to be best man instead. Sindi quickly brought everyone together for a dinner party and they managed to work out their differences. However, it wasn’t long before Stu once again had reason to be suspicious of his fiancee. When he went to pick her up from a visit to Kelly one afternoon, she’d already left, but he found out that Sindi had been making up stories about the engagement and Stu’s job. Sindi quickly explained to him that she often made things up to cheer up Kelly and make her visits more exciting. Stuart accepted her version of events and went on to explain that he was in line for a promotion and was up against his friend, Trent Hoffa. The following day, Stu found out that Trent had been knocked off his mountain bike by a car that matched Susan’s. He later realised that Sindi had borrowed Susan’s car and had spent a great deal of time cleaning it upon her return from her mysterious errand. After confronting a shocked Sindi, Stu was embarrassed when Trent woke up and described the driver as having dark hair and glasses. Beginning to think that he was going mad himself, Stu told Sindi that he’d be having a chat to the boss at work and would think about having some counselling.

With the wedding day fast approaching, Sindi moved her stuff into number 30 and Toadie’s suspicions were suddenly raised when she dropped one of her boxes and a black wig fell out. The situation only got worse when Sindi killed number 30’s pet spider, Yorick, and she then caught Toadie with a computer-created image of her with dark hair. Stuart was furious with Toadie and refused to listen to any of the allegations they were making. Soon after, the number 30 boys then snuck off to a nightclub for Stu’s bucks’ night, knowing that Sindi would disapprove of the strippers. However, when Toadie then claimed to have spotted Sindi watching them at the club, Stu had had enough and announced that he’d only be having Connor as his best man and that Toadie wasn’t welcome at the wedding. As Sindi denied the accusations and Toadie failed to come up with any evidence, he admitted defeat and patched things up with Stu.

On the morning of the wedding, Toadie was held up by some problems with a client, as Stu left for the church. As he got ready, Toadie suddenly had a brainwave and found an image from the video tape of the bucks’ night that proved that Sindi had been there. Unfortunately, he knocked himself out as he rushed to leave and, as he lay on the floor, Sindi returned and took the evidence. Nevertheless, when he awoke, Toadie rushed to the church and burst in, stopping the ceremony. Outside, Stu was furious and, as Toadie had no evidence to back up his claims, he refused to listen, punching his friend in the face instead. After Stuart and Sindi had been away at a holiday resort for a few days, Toadie suddenly turned up, having retrieved the evidence from the computer. With Stuart away booking a tennis court, Toadie confronted Sindi and, as he left the hotel room to find Stu, Sindi pushed him down the stairs. Stuart witnessed the incident and finally realised that Toadie had been right all along and Sindi really did have serious problems. She was taken to the psychiatric ward at Erinsborough Hospital, where Stuart visited her everyday and vowed to stand by her. It emerged that Sindi had previously suffered from paranoid delusions as a teenager and her relationship with Stuart had triggered them off again, leaving her to cause all of the recent accidents with Lil, Janae and Trent Hoffa, as well as setting up the fake hypnotherapy session to get sympathy. Stu was devastated when Sindi told him that she wanted an annulment, as he deserved to move on. Although Stu refused, Sindi then delivered a second blow – she needed to get away from him if she was ever to recover, and so was transferring to another clinic in New South Wales.

In the days following Sindi’s departure, Stu sank into a depression, which was only made worse when his younger brother, Ned, came to stay, clearly on a family spying mission. As Stuart refused to talk his anyone about his feelings, he ended up running into a gas-filled science lab to rescue Rachel and Zeke Kinski – the children of Susan Smith’s new boyfriend, Alex. Having managed to get the kids out, he went back inside to look for anyone else and collapsed in a hallway. Fortunately, he was rescued, but, as he recovered in hospital, he announced that he was giving up on the police force. Toadie, however, was horrified when Ned announced that he was taking Stu away on a fishing trip. As they sat by the lake, Ned jumped in and challenged his unwilling brother to a race. As they returned, Stu struggled to carry on and begged his brother to help him, but Ned simply sat and watched, telling his brother that he had to find the strength himself. Amazingly, Ned’s strategy worked and Stu dragged himself back to the jetty and out of the water. The incident made Stu realise that he shouldn’t give up and that he had friends and family who cared a lot about him.

With Ned around, Stu was soon able to distract himself from his own problems, as Toadie came up with the theory that the secretive country boy was gay. Stu wasn’t convinced but began to see that all of the evidence fell into place and told his brother about their suspicions. He was surprised when Ned admitted that it was true, but Stu felt that something still wasn’t right. As Toadie and Stu pushed Ned to open up, he finally admitted that he wasn’t gay, but failed to tell them that his real secret was that he wanted to be an actor. Meanwhile, the House of Trouser was turned upside-down when Toadie’s bikini shop, Bounce, was robbed and Connor admitted to having taken the money to fund an ear operation for his daughter, Maddy. Although the money was returned, Toadie was disgusted with his housemates actions. Soon after owning up, Connor boarded a doomed flight to Tasmania, celebrating 20 years of Lassiter’s hotel, which crashed into Bass Strait, leaving Connor as one of several neighbours missing, presumed dead.

Around the same time, Stuart threw himself into a case of armed robbery, which seemed to involved the Timmins brothers, Stingray and Dylan. Although Dylan was the prime suspect, he had also been on the flight and was unaccounted for. Stingray claimed that he’d been kidnapped by Dylan’s enemy, Roo Hausman, giving Dylan no choice but to rob the service station. Although the story was true, Roo was nowhere to be found and Stingray was arrested for his involvement. As the court case came closer, Toadie, who was representing his cousin, tried to convince Stu that Stingray’s story was true. Stu slowly began to see that most of the evidence backed the original claims but without Roo, who was on the run having escaped from prison, they had nothing to work with. On the night before his court case was to begin, Stingray went to Colac with Dylan’s girlfriend, Sky Mangel, and tried to find Roo. They slept in his deserted house, hoping that he would come back and they could finally clear Dylan’s name. A concerned Stuart realised where Stingray had gone and went to find him, concerned that he’d be in trouble if he missed his trial. As Stu walked through the door, Stingray attacked him, believing it was Roo. Stuart tried to get Stingray back to Erinsborough, but they were stopped by the police on the way and Stingray was taken into remand for breaking his bail conditions.

Things grew even more complicated when Dylan suddenly returned to Erinsborough, having been on the run, along with Connor, since the crash. After a trial, the Timmins brothers were both sent to prison for their crimes. Roo was later caught and he joined them, but Stuart was convinced that they were innocent and accepted an undercover operation to try and get a confession out of Roo. Stuart entered the prison as Roo’s new cellmate Mick Farrow and proceeded to try and win his trust. Although the plan looked to be succeeding, until Roo remembered a few weeks earlier in Colac, when he’d been spying on Sky and Stingray staking out his house, he’d also spotted Stuart. Having realised that he’d been set up, Roo set ‘Mick’ a challenge – to beat up Stingray. Just as he was about to do it, Stu backed out, and the prison went into lockdown, due to a riot in another wing, organised by Roo. In the fracas that followed, Roo and Dylan became locked in a cell together, and Roo started threatening Dylan with a knife, before admitting to many of his past crimes, not realising that the radio in the cell had been bugged and the police were listening in.

In the weeks that followed, Stuart found himself caught up in everyone else’s problems. When a heavily pregnant Steph was diagnosed with breast cancer and refused treatment until the baby was born, a desperate Max decided to have her declared mentally incompetent. After his problems with Sindi, Stu agreed to help Max out and arrange for Steph to be sectioned, but when it almost cost the Hoylands their marriage, he realised that he’d gone too far. Meanwhile, Ned’s relationship with Paul’s daughter, Elle had entered a rough patch. Stuart found Elle using him as a shoulder to cry on, and the pair started spending a lot of time together, but when she tried to seduce him in a hotel room at Lassiter’s, he admitted that he could never cheat on Sindi. However, after a night out together, Stu and Elle ended up sharing a kiss, witnessed by a shocked Ned. Although the brothers briefly fell out, Stuart began to realise that he couldn’t just sit around waiting for Sindi, and it looked like a decision had been made when she sent through divorce papers for him to sign.

When word came through from Oakey that their father had hurt his back and would be out of action for several months, the Parker brothers argued over which of them would return home to help out. When Ned pointed out that he’d worked there for several years while his older brother was in Erinsborough, Stuart put his plans to go for his sergeant’s exam on hold and packed his bags. But the issues with Sindi were still waiting to be resolved, so he called her and reminded her of their shared dream to bring up a family in the country. He asked her to join him in Oakey and then nervously waited for her response. The following morning she called and agreed to give the marriage another try and so Stuart hitched a ride with Angie and Big Kev Rebecchi, who were headed up north for a holiday, and said a final farewell to Ramsay Street and the House of Trouser.

In 2012, Toadie told a newly-returned Connor that Stuart and Sindi were still together and running the farm up in Oakey. However, by 2017, the marriage was over, with Stuart claiming that he could no longer deal with all of Sindi's issues. Sindi had found work in a catering kitchen on a minesite in Western Australia, where she met Andrea Somers, a woman who looked exactly like Toadie's dead wife Dee Bliss. The two women schemed to get the money from the Bliss family estate, but failed in their efforts. Andrea had also led Toadie to believe that he was the father of her teenage daughter Willow, and out of guilt for not being a part of her life for so long, he offered $100,000 for Willow's schooling, so she could pursue her dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. Andrea and Willow then disappeared to London, leaving Sindi with nothing, and almost destroying Toadie's marriage to Sonya by sleeping with Andrea before finding out her true identity.

The following year, Stuart arrived back in Erinsborough for a huge 1990s-themed party that Toadie had won in a competition run by Lassiter's hotel. Stuart was being pestered by Sindi, who wanted Toadie to know that Andrea was back in Australia, but he felt that he couldn't ruin the day by revealing this. After Stu then gave an awkward speech to the assembled crowd, shocking everyone by bringing up the whole drama with Andrea, Sindi turned up. She told Toadie about Andrea being back, and that she'd spoken to her and she'd even been in Erinsborough, watching as Toadie and Sonya renewed their wedding vows at Christmas. She handed over Andrea's number and left, with Toadie unsure what to do. Stu stuck around for a couple more days, and helped Toadie to take his mind off his problems by reminiscing about their House of Trouser days. He also met Libby and Drew's son, Ben, now all grown up and an apprentice mechanic at the same garage when Drew had once worked. As a fascinated Ben listened to stories about his dad, he was surprised when, a few days later, a 1979 Holden Kingswood arrived at the garage - it was a car that Drew had been planning to restore before he'd moved to Erinsborough, and Stuart had arranged with one of Drew's brothers to have to sent down for Ben to work on.

In July 2022, Stuart was one of several former Ramsay Street residents who sent messages on the day of Toadie's marriage to Melanie Pearson. With Toadie planning to sell up and leave after the wedding, Karl arranged for many of his old friends to send messages persuading him to stay - and the plan worked, and everyone was thrilled when Toadie announced that he and his family would be staying

Trivia Notes
• Blair McDonough was runner-up of Big Brother on Channel 10 in 2001, and it was that exposure that brought him to the attention of the Neighbours production team

Tenure
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