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Character Profiles > Shane Ramsay Peter O'Brien

Shane Ramsay 1985-1987, 2022, 2024, 2025
Lived: 24 Ramsay Street
Born: 1964
Parents: Max and Maria Ramsay
Siblings: Danny and Jill
Family Tree: Ramsay and Rossi
Children: Max
Occupation: Gardener, Chauffeur

Shane Ramsay was born in 1964 shortly after his parents, Max and Maria, moved to the street named after Shane's great-grandfather, Ramsay Street, having lived in Brisbane for a number of years. Shane grew up best mates with his next door neighbour, Paul Robinson but often had to give up hanging out with his mates in favour of training for the Under-12s swimming team. Max had entered Shane in the team in the hope that Shane would one day make it to the Olympics. Although Shane enjoyed swimming, he was never as serious about it as Max who had lost the chance of an Olympic career himself as a result of a pulled tendon.

Shane never had problems attracting women with his blonde hair and blue eyes and much to Max's dismay, girls often disrupted his training regime in order to get a glimpse of Shane in his Speedos. Shane was never interested in anything but casual relationships until stripper Daphne Lawrence performed at his mate's Des Clarke's bucks party. Daphne arrived on the street the following day looking for a lost earring and Shane asked her out to dinner. She eventually agreed and before long they started a relationship. While Maria was happy to see her son settle down into a proper relationship at last, Max was less than pleased with his son's choice of partner. He and Daphne immediately clashed when he discovered her occupation and was further annoyed when she moved into 'his' street to lodge with Des (whose marriage had been called off).

Meanwhile, Shane's involvement in a car accident with his younger brother Danny shattered any hopes he had of taking part in the Olympics. But as it turned out it was Max who was more upset by this. Tensions began to surface between father and son as Max put pressure on Shane to get a decent job. Shane was keen to become an air steward like his mate Paul but the back injury he had sustained in the accident meant he was unsuitable for the job. When he finally landed a job as chauffeur for a wealthy businesswoman, Linda Fielding, Shane became close to his boss and helped her cope with the death of her older husband from a heart attack.

Shane's relationship with Daphne came to an end when she realised that she was actually in love with Des. Shane was heartbroken but took his mind of things by seeing Max's new assistant plumber, Terry Inglis. However, Shane was shocked when Terry revealed that her ex-husband, Gordon Miller, was a bank robber and the man who had crashed into Shane's car some months before and thus, ended Shane's swimming career. Although appalled, Shane agreed to help Terry when Gordon returned to Erinsborough to put pressure on his ex-wife to keep quiet. When Gordon found Terry hiding out with Max, he threatened both of them but then a vengeful Max ended up with the gun when Shane burst in the door, causing Gordon to drop it. With Max now seeking revenge on Gordon for ending Shane's diving career, it was down to Shane to remind his father that it would be a waste of a bullet to shoot Gordon - and a waste of Max's life to go to prison for murder. Max then dropped the gun and the police were called.

Shane and Terry’s relationship strengthened in the wake of the ordeal, but she quickly struggled with her jealousy, not to mention his unsociable working hours as a chauffeur, and they split up - while Terry moved on by getting engaged to Paul, Shane started seeing Daphne again. Shane asked Daphne to move in with him and they made plans to get a flat together. But at the last minute, Daphne realised that she really wanted to be with Des. Although it hurt Shane, he was forced to accept that she and Des were desperately in love and he put a brave face on things when they became engaged.

The Ramsay house was thrown into turmoil when Maria left Max and moved to Hong Kong, and Shane found himself out of a job when he used one of the company's limousines to bring Daphne to the church on her wedding day and it was hijacked by a bank robber. It led to him forming a gardening service with the wacky new tenant next door Clive Gibbons called RAGGS - Ramsay and Gibbons Gardening Service. Shane thought he'd found his dream job when their very first client, glamorous divorcee Beth Travers bedded him within days of him starting work on landscaping her gardens. However, Shane started to worry when Beth soon became somewhat obsessed with him and started showering him with gifts, including an expensive watch. Clive tried to intervene by telling Beth that Shane was engaged to Daphne, but Beth discovered this was a lie when she called to the Ramsay house with a wedding present only to be told by Max that there was no engagement. Shane was forced to admit to Beth that he had never been on the look out for a serious relationship with her and wanted to keep things strictly professional between them. Beth agreed and promptly sacked Shane and Clive, thinking that by cutting their professional obligations out of the equation, Shane would start seeing her. Again Shane resisted her advances, and Beth agreed to let the duo finish the job without pressure on Shane for romance. However, Shane was shocked when Beth tricked him into her wine cellar on their final day on the job and locked him in. A frightening few hours passed before Beth returned with some food and locked herself in with Shane. But once they started talking, Beth admitted to Shane that she had simply become incredibly lonely since her divorce and never intended to come on so strong with him. Shane felt sorry for Beth and once she let him out and apologised, he agreed to forget it had ever happened.

Shane's love for Daphne, meanwhile, had never gone away and with Daphne single again after Des had jilted her at the altar because he had feared she had stood him up when the hijacking had taken place, Shane was determined to win her back. Shane took Daphne by surprise by proposing to her, and was thrilled when she accepted. At their engagement party, Shane shocked Daphne by announcing to all present that they would be getting married sooner rather than later – and this led to Daphne having doubts about her decision.

The shadow of Des still loomed large over their relationship, and at first, things were made difficult for them by Des trying to win Daphne back. But when Andrea Townsend arrived in town with a nine-year-old boy she claimed was Des', he suddenly became preoccupied with their presence in his life. This cleared the way for Daphne to focus her full attention on Shane, and he was over the moon when she agreed to get married within two months. But when Daphne faced financial difficulties at the Coffee Shop, she postponed the event because there was no way she would have enough money to get married in such a short space of time. Shane took this decision badly, and he began to take it as a sign that he didn't amount to much. Shane started to become paranoid and when Daphne went out to dinner with Des one evening to sort out furniture and other outstanding matters from their time living together, he simply couldn't handle it. He waited at No.22 for them to arrive home where he launched a blistering attack on the two of them, practically accusing them of carrying on behind his back. A furious Daphne asked him to leave, and the following day, handed him back his engagement ring.

Shane took his mind of Daphne by jumping into bed with Debra Fleming, a client of Home James, Helen Daniels’ chauffeur company where Shane worked part-time, and a business associate of Paul's. But the brief liaison with her only served to heighten Shane's lack of confidence in himself as Debra was quick to remind him that he was her driver first and foremost. And when Shane called to Debra's hotel room and found Paul there, he hit the roof. With a failed career as an Olympic swimmer, a failed engagement and seeing best mate Paul making a huge success of his business and sex life, Shane really hit a low ebb. But when Mike Young joined the school diving team and asked Shane to coach him, Shane was thrilled and he underwent a huge resurgence in confidence after he dived himself for the first time since the accident. The successful dive led Shane to vow not to let anything stand in his way of making a go of things in the future and he started by enrolling in business classes and running RAGGS all by himself when Clive opted out.

When Max left Erinsborough for a reunion with Maria in Queensland, Shane and Danny weren't left alone at No.24. Shane's Aunt Madge had moved into the Ramsay house a few months before, quickly followed by her tearaway daughter Charlene, and his Uncle Tom arrived after Max's departure ensuring that the brothers would still have plenty of interfering Ramsay's to contend with. Tragedy struck for Shane when he was involved in another car crash which killed Tom's close friend, Jean Richards, who was in the passenger seat. On top of the guilt he felt over being partly to blame - as he saw it - for Jean's death, Shane was charged with the involuntary manslaughter of Jean although the charges were later dropped.

When Madge's son, Henry, came to live at No.24, tensions arose between Shane and his former jailbird cousin when Shane lost $100 and accused Henry of taking it. But he was forced to apologise to Henry when the money turned up, having been misplaced by Shane. He soon began to question what was left for him in Erinsborough. Daphne and Des were married and expecting their first child, Danny had transferred to a job in the country and the rest of his family had moved back to Queensland, so Shane eventually decided to make a clean break - selling the gardening service on to Henry. Shane left Erinsborough on his motorbike to travel around Australia before eventually settling down again in Queensland.

It would be over three decades before Shane set foot on Ramsay Street again, as he arrived in town to catch up with a few old friends, and look into some investment opportunities in Erinsborough. Shane had made a fortune investing in cryptocurrency, and having learnt that Paul was looking for an investor at Lassiters Hotel, he wondered if it might be just what he was looking for, and, caught up in nostalgia, he decided to buy 24 Ramsay Street, after learning that it had just gone on the market.

As well as catching up with old friends, he also made a new one, in the form of Izzy Hoyland. The pair bumped into each other one day, as he was trying to choose which expensive car to spend his money on. Izzy was quickly intrigued by the handsome and wealthy stranger, and he was won over by her, but their liaison was a brief one, as he found out that she already had a boyfriend, Mal Kennedy, whose parents Karl and Susan were the longtime residents of 28 Ramsay Street. Shane’s plans to invest in the hotel also changed as, after learning what a ruthless businessman Paul had become, he decided to try and buy the hotel outright. However, when Paul then got back together with his estranged wife Terese, Shane gave up on the hotel and ripped up the contract, and with less reason to stick around, when another recent returnee, Mike Young, offered to buy No. 24 from him, Shane accepted.

Before leaving town again, Shane attended a huge party on Ramsay Street, to celebrate the marriage of Toadie Rebecchi and Melanie Pearson. Also in attendance was a newly-single Izzy Hoyland, and it looked like these two lost souls might be exactly what each other needed.

A few years later, having been suddenly dumped by Izzy with no warning, Shane turned up in Erinsborough. He brought with him his son, Max, who had found himself in some trouble in Queensland and needed to get away quickly, with Shane suggesting that Erinsborough would be a good place for a fresh start. As Max moved into the share house at 32 Ramsay Street, Shane managed to find his son a job - after reminding Paul of how he'd dropped out of the Lassiters deal with no fuss when he and Terese reunited, Shane managed to get Max a trial as Executive Assistant to Paul and his new co-manager, Krista Sinclair. While in town, a heartbroken Shane also called in on Karl Kennedy, desperate to know how he'd managed to move on from a woman like Izzy. Karl and Paul - both of whom had been in past relationships with Izzy - then attempted to get Shane to think about something other than his ex, which proved difficult as everything seemed to remind him of her.

Shane was so caught up in his thoughts of Izzy that he failed to see that Max didn't want to work at the hotel and it was down to Krista to notice, cut the trial short and tell Shane how unhappy his son was. Quickly realising that he was in danger of turning into his own father, as he pushed Max into a career he didn't want, Shane soon found a way to fix the problem. He contacted Lucas Fitzgerald and made him an offer on Fitzgerald Motors, the local garage and, as luck would have it, Lucas had been thinking about selling the business. A deal was struck quickly, and Max was delighted when his dad told him that he could now complete his apprenticeship and become a mechanic.

Having fixed things with Max, Shane spent an evening catching up and reminiscing with Jane Harris. As they remembered their short past relationship, it was clear that there was still a spark between them, and when Shane went to her house for a coffee the next day, they ended up in bed, only to be caught out by Jane's daughter, Nicolette. With both Jane and Shane wondering whether it was just a one-off or the beginning of something, Nicolette pointed out to her mum that she was making a habit of turning to old flames for comfort, while Shane admitted that, following the break-up with Izzy, he wasn't ready for a new relationship yet. Shane then explained that he was heading back to Queensland that day and, having asked both Paul and Jane to keep an eye on Max, he said goodbye to his son before leaving.

Within a couple of months, Max's secret came out, as he became increasingly nervous that someone was out to get him and he confessed everything to Holly Hoyland. He explained that, after his friend Kasey had been roofied at the bar where she worked, he'd gotten revenge by spiking the drink of one of the guys, Carter Haddon, then leaving him in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, Carter had ended up lost for days and almost died and turned out to be the younger brother of a notorious Brisbane gangster. Having explained everything to Shane, Max had been sent to Erinsborough to hide out but when Kasey turned up, believing that the threat was gone, and then Max's drink was spiked but accidentally given to Aaron Brennan, Max was certain that he'd been found. After Max's cousin, Roxy, who'd been helping Shane out with his business in Brisbane, arrived in town, she was followed by Lachie Jensen, one of Carter's henchmen, who got his revenge by drugging Sadie Rodwell, who he wrongly believed to be Max's girlfriend. When Carter then found Max nearby, he told him to get into his car and come with him, and he would then make sure that the police were informed of where Sadie was. When Sadie was then found safely, his friends received a message from him saying that he'd decided to lie low for a while for everyone's safety and they accepted this, unaware that Carter was the one sending the messages.

After a few days, Holly and Roxy became concerned after noticing that the messages being sent by Max weren't in his usual style. As he'd gone quiet for a few days, and Sergeant Andrew Rodwell was unwilling to raise the alarm without firm evidence, Holly decided to contact Shane. He quickly returned to Erinsborough to help his son, angrily turning on Andrew for his lack of action. Andrew insisted that he was just doing his job, pointing out that Max's actions had put Sadie, his daughter, in danger and that he wanted Carter brought to justice as much as anyone. Having realised that he'd overreacted, Shane apologised to Andrew, and also admitted to Susan Kennedy that he was struggling with the fact that, for the first time in a while, he had a problem that money couldn't solve. As Shane and Andrew discussed the situation later and Shane admitted how scared he was for his son, Holly overheard and decided that he needed to know the truth - Max had returned to Erinsborough earlier that day to get his passport, which Shane had already given to Paul for safekeeping, and she was now helping him to hide out in the hotel. Andrew and Shane then decided that, until Carter had been tracked down, the hotel was the safest place for Max to be.

As Carter returned to Melbourne, plans were made for a sting operation, using Max to lure him in. Worried that something might go wrong and that he'd need to make a quick getaway, Max arranged for an emergency passport to be delivered to the garage, where he and Roxy went to pick it up. They were followed by Lachie, who'd been keeping an eye on Roxy, and were also discovered at the garage by Byron, Nicolette and Sadie, who'd been out walking Trevor the dog. As Max, Roxy, Byron, Nic and Sadie all caught up, things came to an abrupt halt when Lachie threw a Molotov cocktail through the window. As fire engulfed the garage, Byron, Roxy and Max managed to escape with Trevor, but when Byron went back to get Nic, he was unable to rescue Sadie in time, as part of the roof collapsed on her, leaving her with serious burns on her back. As Holly raised the alarm, having been told by Roxy about Max's passport plans, she, Shane and Andrew arrived just in time to help get Sadie out of the building. This time, it was Andrew's turn to be angry, turning on Max for bringing all of the drama into their lives, and Shane calmed him down, reminding him that everyone was a victim of Carter's actions.

With Carter finally arrested and Sadie slowly recovering from her burns, Shane made plans to leave Erinsborough, telling Max that he'd arrange for the garage to be rebuilt when the insurance money came through. He also reminded his son that, if he ever found himself in trouble again, he needed to speak up and not try to deal with it on his own.

Trivia Notes
• Peter O'Brien's portrayal of Shane won a Logie award for Most Popular New Talent in 1986, along with a second for Most Popular Actor in 1987

Tenure
1-437, 8889-8903, 9145, 9146, 9147, 9151, 9152, 9153, 9204, 9205, 9206, 9209, 9210, 9213