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Character Profiles > Dex Varga-Murphy Marley Williams

Dex Varga-Murphy 2023-
Lived: 30 Ramsay Street
Parents: Remi and Cara
Siblings: JJ
Occupation: Student at Erinsborough High

When the Varga-Murphy family received a surprise offer on their house in Werribee, 16-year-old JJ found them a temporary residence in Erinsborough through Rent-a-Home. As Remi, Cara, JJ and Dex arrived at 24 Ramsay Street, introverted Dex noticed that his older brother was behaving oddly, but was shocked when JJ angrily told him to stay out of his business. Having seen JJ reading something and hiding it in his bag, Dex was determined to get to the truth. When he finally managed to get into JJ’s bag, Dex was surprised to find a diary that had belonged to Phillipa, Cara’s best friend who had died. JJ was then forced to explain to his brother that he’d been reading the diary and had learnt that, when Phillipa had been trying to get pregnant, a man named Andrew Rodwell had offered to give her a sperm sample. After changing her mind, and with best friend Cara also trying for a baby, Phillipa had given the sample to her. With Cara falling pregnant soon after, apparently from an anonymous American donor, and some pages missing from the diary, JJ was left unsure if his biological father was actually Andrew or the anonymous donor. With an oblivious Andrew living at 26 Ramsay Street with his wife, Wendy and daughter, Sadie, JJ was struggling to know what to do, eventually letting himself into the Rodwell house and finding a photo that proved that Andrew and Phillipa had known each other.

Dex was stunned, but firmly believed that they shouldn’t say anything, as it could hurt a lot of people. JJ agreed, admitting that he would be glad to get back to Werribee, only for the brothers to learn that their mums had bought 30 Ramsay Street and they’d be sticking around. As JJ attempted to keep his secret, he and Dex started at Erinsborough High, where Dex quickly found himself being bullied because he had two mums. Fortunately, principal Jane Harris promptly suspended bully Noah Dawes and Dex admitted to his mums that almost all of the kids had been on his side, rather than Noah’s, anyway. When Remi's car window was smashed the following week, police sergeant Andrew came over to look into it, and Dex began to panic as Remi and Cara mentioned that they used to live in Werribee, as possible suspects for the damage were the Linwell brothers, Cara's former employers. Dex, however, tried to get them to investigate Noah and his mates, who'd been tormenting him and JJ all week. Dex was further panicked when Andrew offered to take JJ out for a driving lesson, worried that the big secret was getting closer and closer to being revealed.

With the Varga-Murphys being targeted by the Linwell brothers - Cara’s former employers who she was due to testify against, due to their unsafe work practices - the family received a letter with a white powder inside. Remi, who had opened the envelope, sent the rest of the family outside, as they all waited to hear if it was life-threatening. It had been Wendy who had contacted the Linwell brothers, jealous about Cara getting the job as Lassiters Building Manager, and wanting to check if there was anything dodgy in her work history. As they all found out that the white substance was actually baking powder, an argument then broke out, with Cara furious at Wendy for interfering and insisting that the Varga-Murphys and Rodwells should have nothing more to do with each other. As a horrified Dex tried to stop him, JJ blurted out that he believed that Andrew was his father, causing huge tension in both families. As they all waited for the results of a DNA test, Dex barely spoke to JJ, blaming him for the effect it was having on their mums. As things finally boiled over between the brothers, a fight broke out, and a devastated JJ rushed from the house, taking off on Mike Young's motorbike, just as the test results came in. The results showed that Andrew and JJ were not related, and the two families attempted to get their lives back on track, with Dex and JJ calling a truce after days of tension.

Over the months that followed, things seemed to be settling down for the Varga-Murphy family, but when JJ started being targetted by bully Slade Westall, he turned to Erinsborough newcomer, Andrew's adoptive brother, Felix, for help. With JJ finding himself increasingly drawn to Felix, who was out of prison on parole, his behaviour grew more and more erratic, leaving Cara, Remi and Dex concerned for him. When JJ then admitted to taking a knife to school to defend himself from Slade, he was suspended for two weeks, and things only got worse when he was caught helping Felix to rob a building site. Felix was hauled back to prison, but the revelations kept coming as it turned out that he was actually JJ's biological father and had been hiding that secret since his arrival. Remi encouraged Felix to have no future contact with JJ, and to reject any attempts the teenager made to get in touch. JJ was left confused and, as he was expelled from school and facing criminal charges, his main focus became his attempts to speak to Felix. This caused a rift between JJ and Dex, who was upset by JJ's constant rejection of his attempts to help, as well as his feelings that their mums weren't being hard enough on him after everything he'd done.

In an attempt to try and fix the tension in the family, Cara suggested that they should go on a camping trip for the weekend, but this only ended up making matters worse - Dex accidentally knocked over the table with their food on it, and lost his temper when he felt like Remi and Cara were coming down harder on him than they ever did with JJ. With the others believing that he was cooling down in the tent, Dex disappeared into the bush, eventually turning up on Ramsay Street after catching the bus home. He ran into Byron, who took him for a chat and contacted Cara, who'd been out searching with Remi and JJ, and was enormously relieved to learn that he was safe. After a chat with Byron, who made him feel better about his situation, Dex went home to be greeted by his mums and brother, telling them that he felt like every decision in the family was centred around JJ, and that there barely seemed to be any consequences for his recent, terrible behaviour. Realising that they hadn't always considered Dex's feelings, Remi and Cara assured him that things would change in the family going forward.