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Character Profiles > Kate Ramsay Ashleigh Brewer

Katherine 'Kate' 'Katie' Ramsay 2009-
Lives: 26 Ramsay Street
Lived: Ramsay house, 22, 24 Ramsay Street
Born: 1992
Parents: Patrick Mooney and Jill Ramsay
Siblings: Harry and Sophie
Family Tree: Ramsay and Daniels/Robinson
Occupation: Harold's Store Assistant, Student, Student Teacher

Having spent almost ten years as the eldest child in a single parent family, Katie Ramsay was close to her younger brother, Harry and sister, Sophie and their mum, Jill. Though they often struggled financially, the family were a close unit, and the three children were devastated one day when their mum was mown down in the street in a hit-and-run accident. Jill had only just come into contact with the family of her mother, Anne, who had given her up for adoption at birth, and was arguing with her half-brother Paul when the accident took place. The three kids then stayed at the hospital as Jill fought for her life in intensive care. When Jill died, the kids continued to refuse any help, claiming that an aunt was staying and looking after them, but Paul's daughter Elle, feeling guilty for the part her dad had played in the whole sorry mess, went with neighbour Susan to their house and offered them a cheque for $15,000 - their rightful inheritance from the Robinson family. Realising that Elle was Paul's daughter, Katie threw her out, so Susan later returned with her son-in-law, school counsellor Dan. Though Dan had almost succeeded in getting Harry to open up about his feelings, Katie quickly ushered him inside. Things got worse for the young Ramsay family as the press started to hound them outside their own home and, whilst again trying to help them by dropping off some groceries, journalist Elle came up with an idea and offered Katie the $15,000 for an exclusive interview with her for the Erinsborough News.

Though the newspaper article succeeded in getting the press away from the Ramsay kids, and Kate (who decided she didn't want to be referred to as Katie anymore) even used some of the money to buy Sophie a new bike, they were all still struggling to cope. Susan tried to speak to Kate about Ramsay Street, where she lived, and the fact that it was named after their ancestors and had a house available, owned by the Salvation Army, but Kate wasn't keen to take charity. However, when Sophie fell off her bike, and Susan and her doctor husband Karl had to be called, Kate realised that perhaps the kind people of Ramsay Street could be trusted, and were a better bet than social services finding out and splitting them up. And so, with some help from their new neighbours, Kate, Harry and Sophie moved into 24 Ramsay Street, where generations of their relatives had lived before them. Despite the kindness of everyone, Kate and Harry struggled to live next-door to Elle, though Kate accepted a job working alongside Lou Carpenter at Harold's Store, a local business owned by Elle. But following a particularly difficult day, when she'd spotted Elle nonchalantly joking with her boyfriend Lucas, then well-meaning Susan had washed one of Jill's cardigans, which, for Kate, still had the smell of her mum's perfume, Kate's anger led people to believe that she had started a mysterious fire that had broken out at the Robinson fire, and due to the accusations, she quit her job. Kate's odd behaviour didn't help, and she was forced to admit that she'd actually gone into the Robinson back garden to steal apples from their tree to make a pie. When the truth came out - Elle's lodger Donna had left a scarf draped over a lamp - Elle apologised to Kate and convinced her to take her job back.

Further conflict was in store when it emerged that Sophie had witnessed the accident that had killed their mother and when the police came to arrest Paul - who had skipped bail to search for the Ramsay kids' father - Sophie ran up to him and hugged him. As she thanked him for trying to save Jill, it became clear that Paul was innocent and had tried to stop Jill from running onto the road before calling an ambulance for her. An uneasy truce was called between the Ramsays and the Robinsons, and Paul broke the news that he had found out that their father, Patrick, had died in the Philippines several years earlier. With no hope left of a parent to help them out, the kids decided to move on by scattering their mum's ashes at the lake. With reality slowly setting in, Kate began to struggle to cope with looking after Harry and Sophie and was given a wake-up call when the other teens on the street went off to a music festival, but she couldn't join them due to her responsibilities at home. Seeing how unhappy his sister was, Harry decided to help out by buying tickets for a gig at the bar, dragging a reluctant Kate along and watching as she danced and could be herself, if only for a few hours.

As Kate started to make friends in Ramsay Street, visiting Bridget in hospital after she gave birth to a baby girl, further family conflicts arose. As Paul tried to make amends by giving Kate a locket that had belonged to Anne, Harry was furious and, when he spotted Kate wearing it, he took off, saying that his feelings clearly didn't matter to her so he was leaving. After Dan managed to convince Harry to return and say his farewells to Sophie, he was left feeling guilty by his little sister and agreed to stay, but was upset again when Paul started talking about handing over the inheritance money to the kids. Realising that they needed it, and were entitled to it, Kate wanted to take it, but Harry wasn't so keen. However, Sophie voted to take the money, pointing out that it would mean that Kate wasn't working at the store all the time, and Harry's opinion was once again outvoted.

Soon after, Kate joined year 12 at Erinsborough High and, although she immediately clashed with school bitch Amanda Fowler, she also started to grow closer to Donna and particularly Bridget, who bonded over suddenly becoming parents in their teens. She also found herself forming a friendship with Bridget's husband Declan, helping him to plan his mum's wedding to Paul. Declan, meanwhile, gave her some tips of budgeting and agreed to have dinner with the Ramsays, but when they got back, Kate was horrified to find that Harry had been spending money on video games and an argument began. Later, Sophie reminded her sister that their mum had encouraged them to have fun too, and not be serious all the time, and Kate gave the video game a chance. But all money worries were briefly forgotten when Bridget died suddenly, following a car accident, and, despite still grieving for their mum, they all showed up at the funeral to support Declan and Bridget's family. When mechanic Steph was held responsible for the accident, having serviced the car, Kate was horrified to realise that Harry had been tormenting their neighbour, painting 'GUILTY' on her driveway. Though Toadie wanted Harry to own up to the police, Harry realised that they might split him up from his sisters, and it was agreed that Harry would apologise to Steph and help her around the house.

Meanwhile, Kate was worried when Sophie's friend Callum started hanging around, and she worried that he'd developed a crush on her. However, when she finally plucked up the courage to talk to him about it, it emerged that, rather than being in love with her, he had started to see her as a mother figure. Meanwhile, as Johnno Brewer, the man responsible for Bridget's death, was finally arrested, Declan, who had been lashing out for weeks, patched things up with his friends. He then invited them all, including the Ramsays, to a tree-planting at the Community Gardens, where Kate and Harry were formally welcomed into the gang.

Kate soon had something else to worry about when Donna started looking for her birth father. This led to Harry and Sophie asking questions about their dad, despite Kate's efforts to put them off, as Harry was convinced that their father must have loved them as he sent presents. As Harry started to reminisce over some happy memories of their dad, Sophie wanted to know more, but Kate angrily tried to avoid the subject completely. When Toadie then found Sophie upset and told her to stick up for herself and ask about her dad if she wanted to, Kate was furious with him. She confided in Donna that their father had never cared, and that one day, when she was 10, she'd caught their mum wrapping the presents herself, and made her promise not to tell Harry and Sophie. Donna pointed out that maybe life was difficult enough for them without dumping more unhappiness on her younger siblings, so Kate decided to go along with it, sharing happy stories with Sophie, rather than spoil the perfect image of their dad.

Tenure
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Biography by Steve

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