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Character Profiles > Joe Scully Shane Connor

Joe Scully 1999-2004
Lived: 26 Ramsay Street
Born: 1954
Parents: Pat and Mrs Scully
Marital Status: Lyn O'Rourke (1978-2004; divorced)
Siblings: Mick and Tom
Children: Stephanie, Jack, Felicity, Michelle and Oscar
Family Tree: Scully
Occupation: Builder, Truck Driver, Taxi Driver

Proud and stubborn, with a gruff exterior but a heart of gold, Joe Scully is enormously proud of his family and would do anything for them. He married Lyn O'Rourke in 1978 and they went on to have four children - Stephanie, Jack, Felicity and Michelle. Stephanie proved to be a favourite of Joe's, due to her tomboyish nature and interest in cricket and soccer, just like her father. And Joe's proudest moment came when only son Jack was signed to Barnsford in the English soccer premiership. Joe always had a more volatile relationship with middle daughter, Flick, who always stood up to him and questioned the decisions he made more than the rest of the children. Michelle, meanwhile, was always the apple of Joe's eye, and he spoiled her at every opportunity.

Having started as an apprentice in the building trade, Joe gradually worked his way up to forming his own construction company, Ozebuilt, although he regularly sailed close to the wind financially, and experienced various financial crises over the years. In 1999, the Scullys moved to the neighbouring suburb of Erinsborough, and Joe immediately got up his neighbour's noses by making plans to subdivide his land and build a second house.

Next door neighbour Dr. Karl Kennedy was particularly opposed to the idea, especially since Joe also claimed that the Kennedy family were taking up 46cm of his land and demanded it back. A long running feud erupted between Joe and Karl, and was made worse when they bought fought for the position of coach on the local cricket team. Lyn and Karl's wife, Susan, succeeded in getting the two men to try and resolve their differences after they put a stop to their respective sex lives until the rift was healed. However, Joe's plans to subdivide No.26 failed after the council revealed that all the houses on Ramsay Street were 46 cm over, meaning Joe wouldn't obtain the extra land from the Kennedys after all.

Meanwhile, Joe was thrilled when the cricket team won a place in the regional finals and Joe celebrated the victory with the team in Lou's Place. But when he complimented Joel Samuels on a suggestion which helped secure the team's success, Joe was furious when it was revealed that the idea had actually been Karl's but that everyone felt Joe would be more open to the suggestion if it came from someone else. Furious that his team had felt they couldn't be truthful with him, Joe resigned as coach. However, Karl made Joe see sense, and he returned to the fold, in time to see the team win the final against Eden Hills thanks to a winning hit from Karl.

Always one to see his family treated properly, Joe was furious when Ivan Hart, Lyn's boss at the hair salon she had started managing at Lassiter's, was leaving Lyn to pay the staff out of her own pocket. When Lyn's attempts at raising the subject with Ivan failed, Joe intervened, and ended up getting Lyn the sack. With Lyn then out of a job, Joe was forced to reveal to her that it had actually come at a really bad time - he was encountering severe financial difficulties with his building company. Matters were made worse for Joe when Lyn's parents, Henry and Connie, came to stay unexpectedly, and Henry stunned Joe by asking him for a loan. Joe initially attempted to conceal his money worries from his in-laws but Henry and Connie learnt the truth when one of Joe's sub-contractors turned up at No. 26 looking for payment. Even though Lyn was eventually re-instated at the salon, Joe was forced to start looking for a second job to keep the family afloat. He soon found a job that suited him really well - working part-time as a cab driver for the Eden Hills Taxi Service.

However, his first day in the job delivered a surprise when Joe picked up a young couple, and discovered it was Flick and a new boyfriend, Sean Edwards. Joe was immediately opposed to Flick's new romance, particularly given Sean was a few years older than schoolgirl Flick, and also because Flick had failed to even tell her parents she was seeing someone. And when Flick rejected her father's opposition and insisted that he couldn't stop her from seeing Sean, Joe was furious. Lyn eventually persuaded him to give Sean a chance, and invited him over for a family dinner. Although Joe gave Sean a frosty reception, he began to see that Sean appeared to be a decent enough bloke, and decided to give him a chance.

However, when Flick took the day off school with a bad headache, Sean turned up to spend the day with her, despite Flick's concerns that her parents would think she faked the sickness to spend time with him. Flick managed to prevent Lyn from finding Sean hiding in the bathroom when she stopped in for lunch, but when Joe took the afternoon off to make sure Flick was okay, he arrived home just as Sean had stripped off and gotten into the spa. Flick tried to distract Joe while Sean escaped through her bedroom window, but Joe heard a noise and ran out the back to find a half-naked Sean climbing over the garden fence. A disgusted Joe angrily confronted Sean and Flick, before telling Sean to get out of the house. But Flick was furious with Joe for jumping to the wrong conclusion, and accused him of only ever seeing what he wanted. And when Sean broke up with Flick because of the hassle from Joe, Flick decided to run away. After pleading with her mates, Tad Reeves and Paul McClain, to tell him where Flick was headed, Joe followed her to the bus depot and had a heart to heart with her, eventually getting her to come home where they could sort out their problems.

Although totally devoted to each other, Joe and Lyn's marriage was often a volatile one. They regularly argued and bickered over the kids, and money, but both knew that they could trust each other 100 per cent. However, when Joe started having secret meetings with attractive teacher Tess Bell from No. 32, Lyn became suspicious and started to fear Joe was having an affair. After Lyn confronted him about her suspicions, Joe was disgusted at Lyn for even thinking he would cheat on her and stormed off to Lassiter's, where he ended up having a coffee with Tess. When Flick mentioned to Lyn that she had just seen Joe with Tess at the Coffee Shop, Lyn raced down to confront Joe again, but felt awful when Joe admitted that he had been relying on Tess' help in planning a surprise second honeymoon for him and Lyn at a small caravan park in Pelican Point. After putting the mix-up behind them, Joe and Lyn set off to re-visit the romantic spot where they had honeymooned together first time round. But the trip got off to a bad start when they arrived to find most of the caravan park had become the Pelican Point Petrochemical Plant, and the remaining caravans were run-down and shoddy. The second honeymoon came to a romantic end, however, when Joe gave Lyn a new engagement ring to replace the one she had lost on their original honeymoon 22 years before.

When Joe's brother Mick showed up at the Scully house looking for somewhere to stay after falling out with his wife, Di, Joe was happy to help out, and even threw some work Mick's way. However, Lyn worried that Mick was taking advantage of Joe's generosity, especially after discovering that Mick wasn't looking for any work elsewhere or even trying to patch things up with Di. When Joe finally confronted Mick about his behaviour, Mick angrily offered to pack his bags and get out of Joe's hair. But he later confessed to Joe that being out of work had seriously damaged his self esteem, and it had been the reason he left Di and the kids. Joe supported his brother, appreciating exactly how it felt to experience financial difficulties. Luckily, Mick managed to find a job and reunite with Di soon afterwards, and Joe drove him back to Bendigo in his cab.

On his way back, Joe picked up a pregnant passenger, Tina Nguyen, but they were caught in a bush fire just as she started having contractions. As Joe realised they were stuck in the bush, he was forced to call an ambulance and then Karl, to guide him through delivering the baby. After successfully delivering a baby boy, the battery on Joe's mobile phone went dead and he lost connection with Karl, just as the bush fires started to close in on them. Joe, Tina and the baby tried to escape the approaching fire and smoke by taking cover from it in the taxi. Luckily, the fire brigade arrived just in time, and they were airlifted safely to Erinsborough Hospital. As a thank you gesture to Joe, the Nguyens named their baby Joseph and Joe was thrilled when they asked him to be the baby's godparent.

Having caused major headaches for Joe with her previous boyfriends, Flick infuriated Joe when she fell in love with Joel Samuels. Joe instantly disapproved of the relationship, given that Flick was in her final year of high school and Joel was just finishing a university degree. And when Joe mistakenly thought that some lingerie Flick got as present had come from Joel, he hit the roof and forbid Joel from taking Flick to her debutante ball. However, after realising Michelle had actually given Flick the lingerie, Joe was forced to apologise, and he agreed to Flick and Joel going to the ball together, although only as friends. Therefore, when Flick and Joel started dating, they opted to keep their relationship a secret from Joe.

When they finally told Joe the truth, he was disappointed in them for betraying him, and told Flick she couldn't see Joel anymore. But the couple continued to see each other in private, and managed to con Joe into thinking they were over each other for several weeks. Events came to a head one night, however, when Joel had difficulty starting his car and was helped by Joe, who didn't realise that Joel was actually on his way to meet Flick at Grease Monkeys. After getting the car started and arriving at Grease Monkeys, the engine gave in again, but Joel and Flick left the car by the road and kissed behind the building. However, Joe was passing in his cab at the time and stopped to help Joel again, only to find Joel and Flick kissing. Joe was disgusted to discover that they had been seeing each other behind his back for so long and demanded Flick come home with him. But she refused and insisted she was not leaving Joel, particularly after Joe accidentally shoved Joel and hurt his shoulder.

That night, Lyn and Joe went over to No.30 to discuss things with the couple, but more bitter arguments erupted between Joe and Felicity resulting in Flick insisting she was staying the night at No. 30. The next morning, Flick returned to the Scully house with a list of conditions for her father concerning her rights and freedom to see Joel. Joe was outraged at his 17 year-old daughter giving him a list of conditions and vowed never to let her see Joel while she lived under his roof. The ultimatum prompted Flick to move out and she moved in with Joel at No. 30. Joel, however, began to regret the speed with which things were developing with Flick, and told her it would be best if she returned home, particularly since he was going to London for a few weeks for his mate, Mal Kennedy's wedding. After begrudgingly returning home, Flick remained cold towards Joe, and accused Joe of having double standards after he allowed Steph's boyfriend Woody to stay with the Scullys.

When Joel returned a few weeks later, Flick moved back into No.30 with him, and the distance between father and daughter increased. However, when Michelle told Joe and Lyn that Flick was finding living at No.30 miserable and lonely, Joe called over to see Flick and they had a heart to heart, where Flick confided in her father about how tough it was being out on her own. Joe apologised to Flick for not treating her like more of an adult sooner, and invited her home. Flick accepted Joe's offer and he welcomed her back the next day with open arms.

Joe was faced with more trouble from his children when Jack ran away from England and showed up in Erinsborough announcing he wanted out of his soccer career. Joe had a hard time dealing with Jack's decision, but got used to it after he realised how much he missed having a son around. Having accepted Jack's decision, Joe took him on as a labourer, but Jack failed to show an interest in the building trade. Despite his disappointment at his son's disinterest in the family business, Joe told Jack he didn't expect him to stick with the labouring, and sensing that he missed his footy career, Joe turned to talking Jack into returning to the club. Joe confessed to Jack that he had always regretted not trying out for the state cricket team in his youth when he had the chance because it always made him think about what might have been, prompting Jack to re-evaluate his decision and return to Barnsford.

As the building trade experienced a slump, Joe was forced to take on a job as a long-haul truck driver. But disaster struck on one haul when Joe's eyesight started to act up on him, and he lost control of his truck on a sharp bend. Joe and Tad, who had come along with Joe to earn some extra cash, escaped the accident largely unhurt, but a guilty Joe confessed to Lyn that his eyesight had been failing for weeks and after causing the accident, he gave in and got glasses. The accident also cost Joe his truck driving job since the company had no insurance and couldn't risk offering him any more work. Joe's financial situation was dealt a further blow when his own insurance company, Reinholt, went bankrupt. Despite advance warning from Toadie Rebecchi - who had learnt Reinholt was on the brink of collapse while working at the law firm representing them - Joe was too late to cancel his policy. And on top of having no insurance cover, Joe was also liable for any work he had done in the last six years, making the future look decidedly bleak for the Scullys.

A major building contract to erect a housing development at Waratah Creek promised to lift the pressure off Joe, but he was furious when the council vetoed the plans to develop the site. Frustrated with the goings-on at the council, Joe decided to run as a councillor in the upcoming elections. Neighbour Evan Hancock stood in opposition to Joe, and a bitter campaign race was fought between the two. Joe was disgusted when his campaign poster was vandalised and when he caught Evan gloating over the damage, Joe accused him of being involved. Evan laughed off Joe's accusations, prompting an irate Joe to threaten him with the police. But Joe was stunned when Michelle revealed that she had vandalised his posters, because she strongly objected to the plans to build at the creek. Michelle added salt to Joe's wounds by even canvassing around the neighbourhood for Evan, and Joe was disgusted that his own daughter was supporting his main rival. After the ballots were cast, Michelle apologised to Joe for upsetting him, but assured him that her alliance with Evan was purely because she agreed with his platform, and had nothing to do with her feelings for Joe as a father. Joe was touched by Michelle's extension of the olive branch, and he, too, expressed his pride in her, and told her he admired her strong views.

Evan subsequently won the council seat, and Joe took his failure to get elected badly, since Evan's victory would probably spell serious financial difficulties for the Scullys because of his determination to block the development at the creek. Luckily, Joe's business received a huge boost when Steph's fiancee, Marc Lambert offered Joe some work renovating Lasssiter's Hotel, and later, Joe secured a lucrative contract for renovations at Erinsborough High School.

A visit from Joe's estranged father, Pat, re-opened some old wounds for Joe. Pat had never been around for Joe and his brothers when they were kids, and used to regularly hit them and their mother causing Joe to deeply resent him. Although the family was all thrilled to see Pat for the first time in years, Joe was reluctant to share their excitement, and refused to trust him. When Joe walked in on Pat opening Lyn's purse, Joe doubted Pat's explanation that he had simply been putting $50 in the purse for his board and keep, after Lyn had declined an earlier attempt by him to pay her some money. Joe made Lyn check her purse for missing money, but when she actually
found that there was an extra $50 in it, Joe realised Pat had been telling the truth. After apologising to Pat, Joe began to make an effort to get to know him better again, and tried to put the tensions that existed between them aside. But the abuse that Joe and his brothers had received at the hands of their father eventually reared its head, and Joe confronted Pat about all the times he had been hit by him. Pat maintained that it was only ever a clip round the ear, prompting Joe to ask him to leave. Pat apologised to Joe before he left, and Joe accepted after Pat admitted for the first time that the way he treated him as a kid was wrong. After dropping Pat to the train station, Joe returned home and opened up to Lyn and the family about the beatings he, Mick and their mum used to get from Pat, and they supported Joe as he finally got closure on the difficult time in his history.

Having lived in a house full of girls for so long, Joe was thrilled when Irish lad Connor O'Neill showed up on the Scully doorstep and announced he was a friend of Jack's from England, and needed a place to stay in Australia. Although Joe was initially suspicious of Connor, he quickly warmed to him and welcomed him into the family as a sort of surrogate son in the absence of Jack. Connor also proved to be a good worker, and Joe was happy to take him on as a labourer. The only real problem Joe had with Connor was when he started seeing Michelle, and Joe worried about the dangers of Michelle living under the same roof as her boyfriend. But Connor assured Joe that he respected him too much to mess around with Michelle, and he promised to take things slowly with her.

Tired of Joe's loud snoring, Lyn insisted he go to see a doctor about it. Refusing to see Karl, Joe compromised and agreed to see Karl's partner Darcy Tyler instead. But he was shocked when Darcy suggested he have an operation to resolve the problem. Joe rejected the idea outright despite Darcy's assurances that it was all perfectly safe. But Lyn made Joe reconsider his refusal when she threatened to move out of the bedroom all together unless he had the operation. Darcy came to Joe's rescue, however, when he suggested a new treatment involving a small injection into the soft palate to prevent any further snoring. Joe remained reluctant to have anything done, but it did provide him with an alternative remedy to an operation, and with little choice than to appease Lyn, he agreed to have the injection. However, panic set in after the procedure when Joe lost his voice due to his nervousness about the injection, and he feared he wouldn't be able to make his speech at Steph and Marc's wedding the next day. However, the shock of discovering that Flick had been having an affair with Marc behind Steph's back just as the wedding was about to commence prompted Joe's voice to quickly return, as the Scullys faced their biggest upheaval yet. Joe and Lyn found themselves in the difficult position of having to try and understand both girls' points of view, and they had to be very careful not to take sides between the girls. Flick removed herself from the situation for a time by running off to Sydney, and later, to America for a few months, while Steph took a long time to get over the humiliation and hurt she had experienced and forgive her sister for her betrayal.

With all their children grown up, Lyn was stunned when Joe suggested they have another baby. She initially dismissed the idea as ridiculous, thinking Joe had simply become broody after spending some time with Libby Kennedy's baby, Ben. But after Joe told Lyn he was serious about the idea, she came to favour the idea too, and they agreed to start trying for a baby. The kids were delighted by the idea, except for Michelle, who reacted by accusing her parents of being disgusting for even considering having a baby at their ages. But Michelle was simply worried about her position as the baby of the family being threatened, and in time, came to offer Joe and Lyn her support. Meanwhile, Joe began to have second thoughts about having another baby after he and Lyn visited the gynaecologist and he realised the dangers involved for a woman of Lyn's age. But the couple agreed to take the risk and pressed ahead with their plans. Lyn soon started pushing Joe into trying for a baby at every appropriate opportunity, quickly exhausting him.

After Lyn failed to get pregnant after the couple's first month of trying, Joe started to lose interest in the idea, and refused to speak about his feelings to Lyn. Whenever she broached the subject of them trying again, he avoided getting into the issue, and he started to spend increasing amounts of time out in the garage. Lyn's concern deepened when Joe announced his plans to turn the garage into a room for the boys only, and he started having his mates come over to listen to old records and drink beer in the garage. Connor and the recently returned Jack also became regular visitors to the garage, and Lyn made plans to put a stop to Joe's sudden obsession by using it for meetings of the Erinsborough Players and dress-fittings for Susan Kennedy's wedding. However, Joe's mid-life-crisis was stopped dead in its tracks when Lyn discovered she was pregnant - and Joe began to look forward to becoming a father for the fifth time.

It came as a huge surprise to Lyn when Joe announced his plans to stay at home and raise the new baby while she went to work. Joe was the last person anyone would have expected to be a house husband, but he was adamant that he would fulfil the role since he had missed out on it with the other children. Lyn, however, was also keen to stay at home, and the issue of who stays at home and who goes out to work looked set to be a prickly subject as the pregnancy progressed. Joe and Lyn also argued over whether or not to find out the sex of the baby. While Lyn wanted to find out the old fashioned way, Joe was determined to find out from Karl whether he would be the father of a boy or girl, secretly hoping for a boy to even things out at the Scully house. Despite making a pact with Lyn not to find out, Joe couldn't resist and went to see Karl to ask him. Karl broke the news to Joe that it was another girl, and Joe was actually quite thrilled with the idea. The only difficulty now was keeping the information to himself for the rest of the pregnancy so that Lyn wouldn't discover he had gone behind her back to find out the sex. But it transpired that Lyn had also secretly gone to see Karl to find out the baby's sex, and when she and Joe both realised the other knew, they were hugely relieved and looked forward to welcoming a fourth Scully girl.

When Flick - who had moved to the States to work for the New York branch of Lassiters - won a return ticket to Australia in a competition, she was unable to make it home because of her work commitments and offered the ticket to Joe instead. But Joe was horrified by the idea of flying all the way to America, although he insisted it had nothing to do with a fear of flying. Lyn enlisted Karl's help to rid Joe of his problem by having Joe undergo visualisation treatment. The treatment worked, but Joe was still somewhat reluctant to fly to New York - because Karl was travelling on the same flight to visit an ill aunt in New Jersey and Joe was dreading the prospect of having to listen to his sometime nemesis for eighteen hours!

After an enjoyable few weeks in New York with Flick, and for the final few days Michelle - who had arrived there to begin a student exchange programme - Joe returned to Erinsborough to find that Lyn's overbearing Aunt Valda had made herself well and truly at home in the Scully house, along with her pet poodles, Blanche and Stella. Joe tried to persuade Lyn that they needed to get rid of the interfering Valda as soon as possible, but after Valda overheard Joe, she announced her decision to move down to the garage until she could find somewhere else to live. Joe felt a slight twang of guilt, but remained firm in his belief that Valda was too much for the family to have to put up with in the household. But events were complicated when Lyn stumbled upon a burglary at the Kennedy house and was knocked down by the robber as he ran out of the house. Joe, Steph and Jack kept a bedside vigil as they awaited news of Lyn and the baby, but Valda's presence in the hospital corridor annoyed Joe, and he insisted she wait until Lyn came round before she went in to see her. However, while Joe was getting a cup of coffee and Lyn was alone, Valda crept into her room for a second to see how she was - only to be caught by Joe, who exploded at her in a furious rage. Joe's outburst led Valda to go home and pack her things, and leave Erinsborough. It was only after Lyn and the baby were declared safe that Joe discovered a note in the Scully kitchen from Valda, claiming to have reunited with her estranged boyfriend Andreas. Joe and Jack immediately embarked on a desperate scramble to try and track Valda down, not wanting to worry Lyn further, but they were unsuccessful and Joe was forced to tell Lyn what had happened. Joe admitted he felt responsible for Valda's disappearance due to his outburst at the hospital, but Lyn insisted the entire family had all played a part in Valda feeling unwanted, including her. Of course, what Joe, Lyn and the rest of the family didn't know was that Valda was more than an interfering auntie - she was actually Lyn's mother...

Valda was tracked down by Steph and Lou soon afterwards, penniless and sleeping on a park bench. She was hospitalised with pneumonia on her return to Erinsborough, and Joe apologised to her for the way he had spoken to her, before assuring her she was very welcome at the Scully house. Meanwhile, the truth about Lyn’s parentage emerged by accident when Henry sent down some old boxes to Lyn whilst doing a spring clean up in Maroochydore. Included in the boxes were some old home movies, and after Joe rigged up a projector in the Scully living room, the family sat down to watch the exploits of Henry, Connie and Valda in their youth. However, Lyn was left numb with shock when she realised that the film was made only a few weeks before she was born, and that Connie wasn’t pregnant in it - Valda was! Rocked by the realisation, Lyn disowned Valda, forcing her to stay with Lou. And after confronting Henry about the circumstances surrounding her birth, Lyn cut off all ties with him too. She then set out on a quest to meet her real father, Charlie Cassidy, and after tracking him down to Shelley Bay, Lyn discovered he was seriously ill with emphysema and was dying. The meeting with Charlie helped Lyn deal with the events of recent weeks, and she made her peace with Valda on the back of the visit too. Joe was of enormous support to Lyn throughout the ordeal, and it only served to strengthen their bond as husband and wife.

Joe’s feud with Karl was re-ignited when they both signed up for gourmet cookery classes at Lassiter’s Hotel. Karl took great pleasure in showing off his culinary knowledge in class, whereas Joe knew very little about cooking. And when Joe overheard Karl describe him to the teacher as “just a neighbour”, he was disgusted. As a result, Joe refused to have Karl as the baby’s godfather, despite the fact that Lyn had asked Susan to be godmother and badly wanted Karl as the other godparent. Tensions increased further down the track when Steph was diagnosed with breast cancer and insisted Karl - as her GP - not tell any of her family. When the truth came out about Steph’s illness, Joe - on top of being desperately concerned for his eldest child’s health - was seething with Karl for not telling him sooner. Karl tried to explain to Joe that he couldn’t break his doctor/patient confidentiality but Joe insisted he should have been told sooner, pointing out that Karl wouldn’t have liked it if Joe had known Libby was seriously ill and never told him. However, after pressure from Susan and Lyn, Joe and Karl put their differences aside and before long, Joe was helping the Kennedys fix a plumbing problem in their kitchen.

As the birth of the baby neared, Joe decided to take Lyn away for a break at a beach house. However, after a couple of days at the beach house, Lyn started experiencing terrible stomach pains and Joe rushed her to hospital. After recovering from this, Lyn was told that the baby was in breach position and would have to undergo a Caesarean section rather than a natural labour. But despite Joe’s concerns, Lyn was determined all her children would be natural births and went home to exercise in the hope of turning the baby around. Luckily, by the following morning, the baby had indeed turned and a relieved Joe brought home again. However, moments after arriving back at No.26, Lyn’s waters broke and she was whisked back to hospital by Joe. Finally, after a difficult labour, Lyn have birth to her fifth child - and there was shock all round when it was discovered the baby was a boy, and not a girl as they had been expecting. Joe was over the moon at the prospect of having a second son, and while Lyn caught up on some much-needed rest, he retreated to the pub to wet the baby’s head. It was in the pub that Joe came up with a name for the baby - Oscar, or ‘Ozzy’ for short.

Lyn, however, was decidedly unenthused by the new addition to the family, and after a few weeks of avoiding being with the baby, Joe began to realise something wasn’t quite right with her. After she was caught shoplifting on the day of Oscar’s christening and days later, carelessly left Oscar in the car while she went browsing in the mall, Lyn sought medical advice and it was discovered she was suffering from post-natal-depression. Joe was shocked by the diagnosis, but gave Lyn his full support as she underwent counselling. And as soon as she was feeling better, Joe threw a second christening party for Oscar - one that Lyn could enjoy fully this time.

With Lyn feeling better, the Scullys were able to turn their full attentions to Steph’s health crisis. In Joe’s case, that entailed giving Steph’s boyfriend Max Hoyland a stern talking to when he began to mope around about Steph’s decision to end their relationship. Max reacted angrily to Joe’s words of wisdom, and a bitter argument erupted in which Max accused Joe of never really wanting him and Steph to be together in the first place. But Max was at that stage unaware of Steph’s cancer, and it was only by chance that he discovered the truth when he was at the hospital one afternoon and caught a glimpse of Joe, Lyn and Steph in the oncology department. After Max found Steph lying in her hospital bed, receiving her first course of chemotherapy, he was devastated. But Joe was furious to walk in and find Max there, and demanded he get out. Things eventually settled down between Joe and Max after Steph agreed to give things another go with Max, and when Max asked Joe’s permission to marry Steph, Joe deeply touched him by admitting he’d be honoured to have him as a son-in-law.

Joe’s plans for the family’s first Christmas with Oscar were thwarted when he and Jack were forced to make an urgent dash to help out at Mick’s farm when bush fires began to spread dangerously out of control near his property. After a couple of weeks in Bendigo, Joe returned with Jack desperately wanting to work for him as an apprentice now that he had finished school. Jack valiantly tried to prove to Joe that he could cut it as an apprentice by fixing up an old chest of drawers for Oscar. But Joe wasn’t overly impressed with the end result. Despite Lyn desperately trying to get him to give Jack a break, Joe was adamant that he was not going to take Jack on as an apprentice. But he was left with no choice when one of his workers had to leave town suddenly, and Joe gave Jack a day’s work - stressing that he would receive no special treatment or a full apprenticeship out of it.

Soon afterwards, the family applied to be part of a new reality tv show, Making Mansions. Everyone was shocked when they were picked to be the family whose home would be made over on the cable tv series and filming began. However, becoming a minor celebrity was the last thing on Joe's mind when he got a call to say that his father and brother had been injured on the farm in Bendigo and were seriously ill in hospital. Without any hesitation, he drove up there, vowing to look after their property for as long as it took to get them back on their feet.

Trivia Notes
• Before landing the role of Joe, actor Shane Connor appeared as a guest on Neighbours in 1991, in the role of Phil Hoffman
• Shane Connor is the ex-husband of Nell Feeney (Janelle Timmins)
• Joe Scully's favourite band were Status Quo
• He had a phobia of flying
• He also didn't like the sight of blood
• Joe gave up his chain smoking just before moving to Ramsay Street