.
Neighbourhood > Guest Character Profiles > Pat Scully Gerard Kennedy

Never one to show his emotions, Pat Scully brought his children up to be the same way. When the kids were young, Pat would often take his anger out on them, and their mother, meaning that Joe found it particularly difficult to maintain any kind of relationship with his dad as he grew older.

When Pat turned up at the Scully house after several years with little contact, Joe didn’t want to give him a chance. However, Lyn, who was unaware of the abuse Joe had suffered, tried to encourage them to build bridges. Of the grandchildren, Michelle was the happiest to have her grandfather around. Joe believed that his mistrust was well-founded when he caught his father with his hand in Lyn’s purse. Pat claimed that he was actually putting money in, as Lyn had refused to accept it for his board, but Joe was furious. He was forced to eat his words when Lyn explained that there was extra money in her purse, and the incident finally allowed some barriers to come down between father and son. They sat down to talk about the past, but Joe was angry when Pat claimed that he hadn’t abused his children, and the ‘clips around the ear’ that he dealt out were perfectly normal. Joe asked his father to leave, but drove him to the bus station, and Pat finally admitted that maybe he had gone too far, before he left. Afterwards, Joe finally opened up to his family about what he’d gone through as a child.

In the years that followed, Joe’s brother Mick helped Pat with his farm in Bendigo. However, serious bushfires threatened the property at Christmas 2003, when Joe and Jack went up there to help out. A few months later, Joe was forced to go and look after the farm when both Pat and Mick were involved in a serious accident. Pat’s health only worsened, and with his final days approaching, he gave Joe his inheritance, which Joe decided to use to take over the business himself.

Biography by Steve

Back