Wendy McFarlane

The younger sister of Irene, Wendy was first mentioned when Irene entered a country music competition with an original song. She noted that her sister was a sensation of the genre in Australia. Some weeks later, Wendy sent Irene a letter, informing her she would be in the Bay for the music festival. She arrived the following day, overjoyed to be reunited with her sister. She quickly took her up on her offer of some cash, but was sprung by Selina calling her agent, desperate for work. Selina raised her concerns with Damian, and it wasn’t long before Irene went snooping through her clippings scrapbook and realised she hadn’t had a gig since 1991. When Irene fronted her about it, Wendy blamed Irene’s jealousy for her snooping and the pair argued. Despite Wendy’s frostiness towards Irene, the sisters quickly forgave each other.

As the country music festival arrived, Wendy was crushed to learn her half an hour set had been cut for time, resulting in her only able to perform one song. She decided to pull out altogether. To placate her, Irene suggested that she look for a full-time job, which she didn’t take well. As Irene prepared to perform her song, she was worried Wendy would miss out on seeing her. However, reminiscence got the better of Wendy and as she looked through old newspaper clippings, she found her lucky earrings. She took them to Irene and watched her perform Picking Up the Pieces. With Wendy’s career at risk, she decided to leave the Bay as soon as possible. She was hurt when Nelson decided to stay in town, but gave in when Selina gave her a mouthful. She took Nelson’s belongings over to Irene’s house before telling Nelson to enjoy his new life. As Wendy went to leave, she hit a pothole, which rendered her car undrivable. Upset, she trashed her van as Irene watched on.

Irene organised for Wendy to get a job at the diner to make ends meet. However, her lack of work ethic infuriated Ailsa, who decided she and Irene could no longer carry her. Whilst talking to her about this, Irene revealed that Nelson had been supporting her for years. Infuriated, Wendy fronts her son who confirms it’s the truth. The next day, Wendy gets the okay that her van has been fixed, and decides to leave. She goes to see Irene and thanks her for looking after Nelson. When Irene catches up with Nelson, she asks how their farewell went, only to learn she left town without seeing her son.

Alf ran into Nelson at the diner and revealed that Wendy’s car was now on the blink. He raced down to see her and assisted in getting it back up and running. Realising he couldn’t live without his mum, Nelson changed his mind and decided to leave with Wendy. Some months later, as Nelson returned to the Bay, it was revealed that Wendy had got a job on a cruise ship as a singer.

For the next 20 years, Wendy was only mentioned once, in 2004, when Irene revealed that Wendy got really sick as a child and almost died. Their father took her fishing and said she was like a light on a ship – if she went away, life would be really dark. Then, in 2015, Irene opened up about being abused by her uncle as a teenager. She revealed that she sacrificed herself to keep an 11-year old Wendy safe from their uncle Pete.