Debra Jo Morgan

Debra Jo Morgan is a main character in the Australian TV Soap 'Southland'. She debuted in 1996 as part of the Morgan family and remained a main character until 2007 when she departed. She returned in 2018 when her brother Pete was shot.

1996-2000
Deb arrived in Southland as the rambunctious older sister of the Morgan family after dropping out of school in Melbourne to pursue a career as an artist. Quickly she became known for causing trouble around the town, being arrested for vandalism and shoplifting multiple times. Whilst she always had a difficult relationship with her mother Joanne, her bond with her father was always strong.

In late 1996 she got involved with biker Zane and joined his motorcycle crew. Her father Joe was not happy about this relationship and the pair fell out, Joe even punching Zane in the face at one point. When Deb decided to run off with Zane in 1997, Joe attempted to stop her but his attempts failed. Deb went off with Zane and joined his club, even taking drugs. She left him when she saw him beat up an innocent man and called her father to pick her up. Joe was happy to have his daughter back and they mended their relationship.

Later that year Deb found out her mother had been having an affair. At first she kept it a secret, using it to bribe her mother to do things like allow her to get a tattoo and pay for her to get a new bike. Eventually, after an argument with her mother, she told her father what she knew. Rob went out and later suffered a heart attack that nearly killed him. Needing some time, he left Paulette and Southland, leaving Deb behind. Angry with her mother and blaming her for Rob's departure, Deb moved out and went to live with her friend Trish.

Living with Trish and the students, Deb became a bit of a party animal. She had a brief fling with Trish's housemate Luke, but ended things with him quickly. She also began using recreational drugs. This ended when her younger brother Pete ended up in hospital after taking some. Deb decided to give up the drugs and turn her life around, getting a job in the pub.

By 1999, Deb's parents had reconciled and left Southland with her brother Pete to start fresh in Kalgoorlie. Deb decided to stay in Southland and continue working in the bar whilst trying to start her career as an artist. She also rekindled her romance with Luke briefly, before he dumped her for Trish, who he really liked. Feeling unmotivated, Deb decided to enter the competition to design a mural for the town. When someone else was choosing over her design, she became frustrated. Not thinking the design they chose was good enough, she defaced it, painting over it at night. The next day the people of Southland saw the mural and were very impressed with the 'new' design. Deb decided not to come forwards and say it was her, though local mechanic Adam Ranger realised it was her. This realisation began their friendship, and later relationship.

2000-2004
In September of 2000, Deb's seventeen year old brother Pete showed up at her doorstep having grown tired of living in Kalgoorlie and wanting to have a more exciting life. Deb agreed to look out for him, which proved more difficult as Pete started acting out and staying out late. He used her past against her until Deb eventually let him go. Eventually Joanne, Deb and Pete's mother, returned to Southland to look out for him.

In 2002, Deb became close with Adam Ranger. Though their relationship was on and off for a year, in 2003 Adam proposed to Deb and the pair became engaged. Adam's family didn't support his relationship with Deb at first as they worried that she was a loose cannon. Upon realising this, Deb got drunk in the bar where Kim was and the two spent the evening chatting. At the end of the evening, Deb kissed Kim out of the blue. The next day Kim assured Deb she wouldn't tell Adam and that they were just having a little fun. Deb was unable to shake this kiss though and began having doubts, not just about Adam but also about her own sexuality. She went to Pete with this, who tried to get her to realise she was just having pre-wedding jitters but Deb didn't agree and instead decided she needed to be sure. She went back to Kim to talk to her but the two women instead slept together and began an affair.

As the wedding grew nearer, Deb realised she was developing feelings for Kim and told Kim, Kim said she didn't want to be some woman on the side. When Deb said she was still going to marry Adam, Kim got her to admit she was gay. This wasn't enough to stop her from marrying him as Deb thought Adam was the safe choice. Deb and Adam's wedding happened on the 21st July 2004. Before the wedding Deb had seen Kim, who had told her that if she married Adam she'd be living a lie and called her a coward. On the day of the wedding Deb had doubts but her family reassured her it was the right thing to do. Kim had told her that if she went ahead with the wedding they'd be over. In a fit of guilt and panic, as Adam and Deb were stood at the altar, Deb told Adam she couldn't marry him and that she'd been having an affair. Adam stormed out of the wedding and Deb followed him but he shut her out of the room. As Deb waited she spoke to Kim and confessed her love for her. Adam saw this and realised Deb was having an affair with Kim, he called her a 'dyke' and left to go on the honeymoon on his own.

Deb tried to lay low as the town speculated about her relationship. She told Kim she needed time to sort her head out. When Adam returned from the honeymoon he and Deb tried to work things out, leading to Deb telling him that she was a lesbian. Adam understood at first but when he saw Deb and Kim together in the pub he lost it. He stormed into the pub to confront Deb and tell he she needed to move out. Deb argued back, leading to Adam telling the whole pub about Deb and Kim's affair, subsequently outing her. Though she was at first angry at Adam and attempted to hide from the gossip about her, eventually Kim and Pete convinced her to own it and she announced her love for Kim to the pub. The two then began an official relationship.

2005-2009
Debra and Kim stayed together for two years on and off after up until July 2007 when Kim left Southland to pursue a job in New Zealand, leaving a disheartened Deb behind. Following Kim's departure, Deb pretended as though she was fine, unwilling to accept advice from others. She began dating many different women. However, none of them filled the void left by Kim. She began drinking to numb the pain, even sharing a drunken kiss with Adam. The pair laughed about the kiss, agreeing it was nothing but when Adam's then girlfriend Tina found out, she confronted Deb. Tina told Deb to stay away from Adam, referencing their history and how even Kim wanted to get rid of her. This set Deb off and she told Tina to back off. Deb attempted to warn Adam about Tina's mean-streak in the pub, but he refused to believe her and instead insulted her. With Pete having little time for her due to the birth of his first child, Deb felt isolated and her drinking got worse. She began drinking at work, getting incredibly more reckless. When her boss Jim, started to notice something was wrong, he attempted to help her, but his attempts failed and Deb quit her job at the pub. Without any money, Deb moved back in with her brother Pete, but when she fell asleep whilst she was supposed to be looking after baby Charlie, Pete kicked her out. In February 2008, Deb got in her car drunk and accidentally drove into the side of The Grill. Deb blew over the limit and was fined and had her license suspended. This was a much needed wake up call and she stopped drinking.

After this incident, she turned her life around and sobered up. In late 2008 she got a job teaching art at South Central High School. Whilst teaching at the school in 2009, she learned that the school art programs were going to be defunded and organised a protest, which worked. Slowly, she won her respect back from the community. In June of that same year, she started dating another teacher at the school. This was her first serious relationship since Kim, but the teacher eventually decided to return to her husband.

2010
Deb continued to teach at the high school until February 2010, when she got into a disagreement with student Georgia Mckenna over her art project when Deb gave her a lower grade as she misunderstood the assignment. Georgia became frustrated that Deb wouldn't let her redo the assignment and so she went to the principal and made a false allegation that Deb had attempted to make a move on her. Deb was subsequently suspended as an investigation took place. She was also questioned by the police and arrested publicly, causing some of her friends to turn on her. However, she continued to maintain her innocence, even confronting Georgia to ask her why she was doing this to her, which only made her look more guilty. With her reputation in tatters, she turned back to alcohol, much to the concern of her brother Pete. Deb was then approached by an LGBT activist who offered to tell her side of the story. She agreed and went public with what happened, garnering a lot of support and outrage for the school and the town.

Eventually, Connor Edwards who looked at Deb's brother Pete as a mentor figure, was able to get the truth out of Georgia and recorded her confession. He then played it publicly at the school fete. This cleared Deb's name, but many still had their doubts. After overhearing someone questioning her innocent in the pub, she headed home, where she was confronted by an apologetic Georgia. Deb refused to accept Georgia's apology and yelled at her. She then turned back to alcohol. Despite Jim, Pete and Adam's attempt at an intervention, Deb continued to slip down an even darker spiral. This all came to a head when Deb blacked out for a day and ended up in hospital. Not remembering a single event that happened, she decided that she would never drink again.

Deb was offered her job back at the school, but being there was difficult as it brought back memories. Almost turning back to the booze in class, ironically being stopped by Georgia. Deb realised that she could not go back to her old life as too much had changed. She was then caught off guard by a job offer at a liberal arts college in Brisbane, who had seen the article written about her. She decided to accept the offer and left Southland in April 2010 in need of a fresh start.

2014
In 2014 Deb's father Joe died of a heart attack off-screen. Deb did not return for his funeral because, according to her brother, she couldn't face saying goodbye to him due to their close relationship. Pete was disappointed that she didn't show and harboured resentment for her.

2019-2020
In January 2019 Deb's brother Pete was shot in the back when he got involved in a gang altercation, ending up in a wheelchair. After he was released from hospital he became distant and pushed people away. Deb was contacted by Jim Butcher to come an help him. She returned in April 2018. At first Pete was resistant to her attempts to help him but eventually accepted the help as he recovered. Deb decided to stick around to continue to help him. Soon it became apparent that Deb wasn't just sticking around for Pete but was hiding from something. When a strange man showed up outside Pete's house, Pete believed he could be one of the gang coming to finish him off and suffered a panic attack. Deb convinced him that it was just someone else, but didn't reveal the truth straight away. A little later the man's wife showed up at the house and revealed that the man was the dean of the college Deb taught at and that Deb had been having an affair with his wife. Deb then revealed she'd been payed by her boss to leave his wife alone. The wife confronted her husband and he revealed he did it because he loved her too much. The pair made up and left to head back to Brisbane, leaving Deb in Southland.

Unemployed, Deb got her old job at the bar back and fit back into life in Southland. Soon she met Senior Detective Amanda O'Rourke, who was working on Pete's case. She confronted Amanda about not catching the man who shot Pete and the pair began a tense relationship. Deb ridiculed Amanda for her shoddy police work. Amanda even arrested Deb for interfering with an investigation when she showed up at the police station after prime suspect Jordi was let go. Whilst at the station, Deb admitted that she felt guilty for not being there for Pete, Amanda acknowledged that they were similar that way. Eventually, Amanda was able to catch the real culprit. As an apology, Deb offered to buy Amanda a drink as an apology. Amanda was on duty, so she refused but told Deb to ask her again another time.

After this, the pair began flirting constantly. However, when Deb learned that Amanda was visiting her ex and son in May, she incorrectly assumed Amanda was straight and informed Amanda that she would back off. Amanda corrected her assumption by stating she was visiting her mother and that if she wanted to know if she was a lesbian, she just should have asked.

Deb and Amanda continued to flirt after this point until Deb finally asked her out. The two then began to date, facing some conflict due to Deb's history with the law.

In October 2019, as the pair grew serious, Deb started getting close to Amanda's son Oliver. But she soon began to worry it was all too much and that she wasn't ready to take on the responsibility of a child, causing Amanda and her to seperate.

A few weeks later, Oliver was kidnapped by a desperate Al DiMarco in response to Amanda's investigation into his crimes. When Deb heard about this she was overcome with worry and helped look for him. She ended up finding and rescuing Oliver, later telling Amanda she was afraid because she was starting to care. The pair then got back together, with Deb saying she's not scared of that anymore because she's experienced far worse, referring to Oliver being missing.

In March 2020, Deb got involved in Rocky's illegal casino set up the pub after Pete accused her of scrounging off people. This backfired when Amanda began to suspect everything, eventually following Deb to the casino. She confronted Deb, who asked her not to report it. Amanda couldn't do it and reported it. Deb was furious and broke up with Amanda, moving back in with Pete.

In search of a purpose, Deb joined a local protest group who were protesting the building of a new apartment complex on the recreation field. This put her at odds with Amanda again as the protestors were trespassing. Later on, Amanda confronted Deb, who was happy she was talking to her, suggesting her plan had worked. Deb continued to protest the development and came up with the idea to enter the construction site to do a social media protest, paining trees on the walls. Due to the developers cutting corners, the building collapsed, leaving Deb and the protesters trapped inside. This also resulted in the death of Luke Baxter, who had been hiding out in the construction site with his girlfriend.

Whilst they were trying to rescue those trapped inside, Amanda was waiting anxiously. When Deb was rescued, the pair hugged and reconciled. Deb later used her footage to help Amanda gather evidence against the developers.

Later that year, Deb proposed to Amanda

2021-Present
In 2021, Deb and Amanda were in the midst of planning their wedding when Amanda asked Deb to adopt Oliver. Deb was initially unsure but later agreed, stating Oliver was practically her son already. Prior to the adoption however, Deb began experiencing tension in her chest. At first she believed it to be indigestion, but as things progressed and the pain got worse, a passing comment from Maralin about genetic diseases got her worrying about her heart. She went to a doctor, who reassured her that it was probably stress. However, the results came back inconclusive, the doctor asked for her to come in for a follow up, which Deb refused, living in denial.

As the symptoms got worse, Deb began to think of her father and what his death did to her. Not wanting to put the people she cared about through it, she didn't tell anyone of her condition. She also told Amanda she couldn't adopt Oliver, upsetting both Amanda and Oliver. As the weeks went on, Deb's symptoms grew worse, but she continued to ignore them. At one point, after Suzanne Barker noticed Deb having symptoms of heart problems outside the pub, she was able to convince her to come for a scan, but when Deb arrived at the hospital she saw Amanda at the entrance and skipped her appointment. When Suzanne confronted her about this, Deb told her she was fine and to not tell anyone, threatening doctor/patient confidentiality. After this, Deb's health only worsened, making her irritable. Amanda wrongly suspected it was because she didn't want to get married. After Deb took some painkillers and slept through a florist appointment, Amanda confronted her and the pair argued and Amanda called off the wedding. An upset Deb headed to the pub where she drank and smoked. A concerned Maralin called Amanda to pick her up. Outside, Amanda and Deb argued until Deb began experiencing a heart attack. Amanda rushed Deb into the pub where Suzanne revealed the status of Deb's health and an ambulance was called.

Deb underwent surgery and was able to recover, with some much needed lifestyle changes including giving up smoking. Amanda agreed to put the wedding back until after Deb had fully recovered.

In September 2021, Deb and Amanda were set to get married when, a few days before Kim returned to Southland for a visit. The two reconnected and Amanda grew worried Deb would leave her. Deb began to consider it, after sharing a moment of madness kiss with Kim. She confessed this to Amanda the next day and Amanda stormed off, not letting Deb finish. Deb later found Amanda and told her that whilst Kim was her first love, she wanted Amanda to be her last. The pair made up and were married. Kim watched the wedding, wishing Deb happiness before returning to New Zealand.

In January 2022, Deb officially adopted Oliver.

Trivia
TBD