Celia Stewart

Celia is Alf’s younger sister, one of the four girls in the family. Her first appearance in home and away came as she was followed home by a dog and fell off her bike trying to get away from it. In the first few episodes she did very little except establish herself as the local busybody but really came into her own when she found out that Carly had been raped and subsequently told the whole town. Her subsequent apology fell on deaf ears with everyone blasting her for making Carly’s business public knowledge and Celia was devastated, crying regularly to Ailsa. Ailsa gave her a packet of chewing gum and urged her to chew it every time she felt the need to gossip.

On serious matters regarding her family Celia proved she could be trusted when she not only kept Roo’s pregnancy a secret but also helped her talk Frank into marrying her. She established her place in the bay by buying the general store from Ailsa and was devastated when a robbery saw her engagement ring from her dead fiance stolen. It was later returned anonymously.

She received an invitation from her parents to visit them in Tahiti and left the Bay for a brief trip, insisting on waving goodbye to everything before she left. She returned a month later, determined to help Alf and Ailsa get back together. She was prejudiced against Roo’s new boyfriend David because he was chinese and shocked to find out from Alf that he knew of Bobby’s parentage but that it was better kept a secret. When the truth was revealed she was tricked by a reporter into giving the story to the papers and Morag took revenge by moving in with her. Celia soon had enough of living with her sister and moved out.

She grew close to Morag’s butler Nigel Jarrat, over mutual concerns for Morag and offered him a place to stay when Morag turned on him but Nigel thanked her but opted to stay with Morag. she helped organise a dance contest, not knowing that it was actually a dirty dancing competition and was horrified when Fisher revealed the truth. Nigel convinced her to allow it to run and they ran an adults competition alongside so the adults could supervise. Celia was partnered with Nigel and the two got on very well but the night turned sour when the competition money was stolen. She suspected dodge was responsible and set up a ‘sting’ operation armed with a rolling pin and a mousetrap. She managed to catch Dodge in the act and he was arrested but in the process Celia made a dangerous enemy. He later returned to town and set her store on fire, burning it to the ground and killing Philip Matheson in the process. in the aftermath of the fire Celia left to stay with Barbara in the city.

She returned after a few days to find that her ‘relationship’ with Nigel was the talk of the town so she and Nigel pretended to be an item to fool everybody. Celia confided in him about her late husband Les and began to fall for him but Nigel didn’t feel the same way and left town, claiming he was reuniting with an ex. A spiteful Morag told Celia that Nigel had left because of her and Nigel later sent her a letter explaining. A gutted Celia went back to what she did best, interfering and suggested that Andrew Foley wasn’t fit to be a counsellor at the youth centre because of his drinking problem.

When he left for the city she took on the role of counsellor by herself but was tormented by Steven, Matt and Dodge. Carly insisted that the center needed a professional counsellor and pretended to be drunk causing Celia to walk out and quit her position. She provided the christening gown that caused Duncan’s allergic reaction and subsequent hospital visit and assumed that Marilyn had committed suicide. Upset at continually getting things wrong she sobbed her heart out to Andrew and Alf organised for her to take a trip to visit her parents.

When she returned she was surprised to find that Alf had done out her store for her but she was soon running scared of the summer bay bunyip. She was flattered when a scottish tourist asked to take her out but was left humiliated when he revealed he only wanted her for information. She turned her attentions instead to gossiping about Danny living with Marilyn and Morag and insisting that he had to be having an affair with one of them.

She was really concerned when Morag seemed to be being harassed by someone and agreed to move in with her but her attempt at a burglar alarm only scared Morag more and she was asked to move out again. She helped Lance and Martin with their hot dog business after it hit trouble almost instantly in return for a 90% share. Lance and Martin found Celia to be a slave driver whilst she accused them of being lazy and she threatened to sack one of them. They competed against each other to decide who stayed but when Celia finally decided to sack Lance, they threatened her back demanding that either they both stay or both quit. Celia warned them that if business didn’t pick up in a month she’d dissolve it and they’d both be fired.

When Lance and Martin tried to make additional money on the side by selling out of date sausages, they found a cat who had eaten the sausages, dead and became convinced that they had killed Celia as she had eaten some too. They spent a day waiting for her to die when she finally collapsed on them only to come round almost instantly and admit that it had been a joke to teach them a lesson about food poisoning. She was next in line for a practical joke when Emma and the other teenagers convinced her that there was ghosts at Morag’s old house. They had her so worried that she stole the holy water from the church but she got her own back after Andrew Foley discovered what was going on by pretending to be ghosts and scaring the teenagers.

She became involved in raising money for a charity to help poor children in Africa but she was left red faced when the posters for the charity contained women with bare breasts and the promotional videos turned out to be porn. She played host to Reverend Hope who came to raise awareness of the plight of the children in Africa and after seeing him off, decided that she too wanted to go and work in Africa. Alf was originally against her idea but was persuaded into supporting her by Ailsa and he said goodbye to her as she left the bay to be a missionary.

In 2000, Alf heard that Celia was held as a hostage along with the other leaders, while there was a war. Alf rushed to her aid, and managed to free her, but it was a costly business, leaving him out of pocket of $50,000. In 2002, she returned for the sesquicentenary of Summer Bay. Three years later, in 2005, she returned to attend Alf’s 60th birthday party and it seemed that nothing had changed in her relationship with Morag, who she still managed to rub up the wrong way.

After almost ten years away from Summer Bay, Celia returned in 2012 for Roo’s wedding to Harvey. Her impact was felt at the hen’s night when Irene was forced to censor herself due to Celia’s proper nature. After a week, her presence alongside her sisters’ Morag and Colleen was wearing thin on Alf as they tussled over who would be caring for a chicken pox ridden Harvey. He promptly ordered all three to leave, but Celia, tears in her eyes, explained she had nowhere to go. Celia explained that she had been conned by a supposed church-goer who had talked her into opening a soup kitchen and left her with nothing but a broken heart and a mountain of debt. Alf offered her a room and Marilyn organised for her to work at the Diner. Irene was forced to call for her sacking when she spent too long talking to the customers. Alf asked for her help in the park and as a result, Celia resigned from the diner and appointed herself as the guest relations manager of the caravan park as a string of thefts began.

It soon became apparent that Celia was complicit in the thefts, as she was almost caught returning a $20 note she stole from the Diner. Irene clued onto Celia’s kleptomania and Alf began to question it himself when Celia presented him with a gift, despite claiming she had no money. Celia was quick to support Roo in her decision to assist runaways Maddy and Spencer, which bothered Alf. Roo’s tribulations in finding the teens invoked Celia’s goodwill and she admitted the truth to Alf: she stole the money. She revealed that when she retired from aid work, she turned to the poker machines to fill in her time and after a big win, she gambled away her life savings. After seeing how disappointed Alf was, Celia tried to leave, but was talked out of it firstly by Marilyn, then Alf, who offered her a room to stay and support.

She began attending gamblers anonymous meetings, and was initially coy upon her return, turning to cleaning to keep her mind occupied. She supported Maddy and Spencer in their plight to find a new home, anonymously leaving an envelope with $7000 cash for them. It was this that made Alf realise Celia was still gambling. He gave her one final chance, imploring her to make a change or he will no longer support her. Alf struggled with Celia, which led to Marilyn forcing the pair to discuss their problems. Celia was hurt when Alf told her that the Celia of old would be so disappointed to know what she had become.

Celia opened up to Marilyn, explaining that her friend Sheldon introduced her to gambling, through horseracing, and she didn’t even realise she was growing addicted. Marilyn contacted Sheldon and invited him around, with Celia happy to see him, but it got Alf further offside. Celia got through to Alf, assuring him that she and Sheldon would be seeking professional help for their gambling issues. He was relieved to hear the plan and offered to give her back the cash she had left for Maddy and Spencer, which she decided to donate to the mission back in Africa. However the next morning, Celia caught Sheldon taking the cash, offering to put it on a sure-win to get them enough to go back to Africa. She refused to partake, believing they need to start anew which resulted in him leaving her for good. Despondent, she got her old engagement ring out – the one she received from Les before the war – and polished it.

In a bid to assist Celia out of her funk, Alf thought she needed to find a new way to help people. This was proven true when she saw Bianca and Heath kissing in public. She confronted Bianca about her position in the community (as a teacher) and the inappropriateness of her being in a relationship with a “river person”; or someone who has tattoos for reasons other than a tribal nature. Celia copped a serve over her conduct from Irene, who filled her in on the history of Bianca and Heath, including losing Rocco. She was horrified by the way she acted and approached Heath, apologising and urging him to propose to Bianca, as if the loss of a child can’t tear them apart, nothing will. Heath’s first proposal went sour, with Bianca slapping him, however when Celia learnt Heath proposed without a ring, she offered him the engagement ring she held close for 43 years to pass onto his newly affianced.

Alf was horrified to learn Celia had given the ring away, but she justified her decision, likening Heath to Les – a fighter. Soon after, she decided to start a new chapter and left the Bay.