Harper Matheson
Harper Matheson is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Jessica Redmayne. The character made her debut on 10 August 2023 after an official announcement was made earlier that month. Harper arrives with her sister [|Dana Matheson], and the pair were billed as hiding a secret upon Harper's arrival in Summer Bay, which was further expanded on as it was revealed that the two sisters were involved in a corruption case.
After settling into Summer Bay following the end of her legal struggles, Harper's storylines have mainly followed her relationship with Tane Parata as the two embarked upon a turbulent relationship and engagement. The issue of co-parenting has been a significant theme for the character after the birth of their son Archie Parata in 2025.
Harper's profession, being a social worker, has been a recurring theme within her storyline arc as she has been central to the re-introduction of the topic of fostering, which was a prominent theme within the serial at the time of its inception. Through this, Harper has formed a professional-like relationship with Roo Stewart as she has often aided Roo through her complex fostering cases, involving Eliza Sherwood and Cohen Luther.
Casting
Redmayne's casting details were announced along with that of Ally Harris', who plays Harper's younger sister Dana Matheson on 2 August 2023. The pair were billed as having a connection to an established resident of Summer Bay and will be involved in "a mysterious storyline." Redmayne relocated to Sydney from Melbourne for the role and stated "Everyone was extraordinarily warm and welcoming. And I'm very fortunate to enter a really great company of people because it is really easy to come to work every day." She described her character as being "very protective" of Dana and willing to go "above and beyond" to protect her. She also said Harper was "quite empathetic, and very set in her ways. I think Harper is the kind of rigid sister and Dana's the more fluid, lives-life-on-the-edge sister." Harper made her first appearance on 10 August 2023.Speaking to Kerry Harvey from Stuff, Redmayne expressed her joy at being cast in Home and Away, adding that she had auditioned several times before for the serial for a variety of roles. Redmayne continued that the character of Harper Matheson resonated with who she was as a person and that her and the character shared core values. Redmayne was pleased that her character's profession was a social worker and that that factor will make her background "interesting" moving forward. Redmayne also expressed her gratitude at having arrived into the serial with a "sister." She continued by saying that her and Ally Harris worked hard to establish a sisterly "chemistry" prior to filming.
Development
Introduction and legal struggles
Harper arrived in Summer Bay in August 2023 and responded to Irene Roberts advertisement for a room to rent. Harper introduced herself as a social worker on leave, presenting herself as friendly and professional. However, her behavior quickly raised suspicions—especially with John Palmer, who noticed her avoiding the police and reported his concerns to Senior Constable Cash Newman. Cash looked into her only to discover that he already knew Harper prior to her arrival in Summer Bay as they worked together professionally on cases.However, Harper had an ulterior motive for her arrival in Summer Bay: her sister Dana was on the run, accused of stealing drugs after a stash taken from the hospital where she worked was discovered in the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Olly. This link to Cash was soon revealed as the main reason for Harper's arrival as Harper asked Cash to investigate the matter — but withheld a key detail: Dana was thought to be on the run but Harper already knew Dana's whereabouts, having secretly hidden her in her room at Irene's house. [|Detective Madden] was introduced as the lead officer on Dana's case. He appeared irritated by Cash's probing questions, which challenged his authority, and hinted at ulterior motives by making a secretive call requesting information on Cash. Later, Madden confronted Cash about his personal connection to Harper, which had not been disclosed during his defence of Dana. He accused Cash of favouritism and warned him to back off, saying: “Let me put Matheson away before you get yourself in some real trouble.” The situation escalated when Cash discovered Harper hiding Dana at Irene's house, potentially implicating him further.
It was later confirmed that Detective Madden was corrupt and he later kidnapped Dana and had his associate [|Detective Fletcher] inject Dana with a syringe in the attempt to kill her. Madden gave instruction to Fletcher to set up Dana's apparent death to appear as a suicide. However, Dana manages to knock Fletcher out and place a call on his phone to Harper. At the assistance of Rose Delaney, Harper and Cash manage to track down Dana's location as they trace the location of the call. Dana recovers in Northern Districts Hospital and manages to wake up after being treated by Bree Cameron. However, Rose warns Harper that she, Cash and Irene could face potential charges for their involvement in Dana's case as they were harboring a fugitive and essentially an accessory to the case.
Harper also faced tension with Cash's girlfriend Eden Fowler after Cash was suspended from work for rule-breaking and Harper reveals she has lost her own job during her absence from work as her boss disliked her already prior to her taking leave. Harper was then arrested and charged with hindering a police investigation and was forced to spend a night in lock-up with Irene before seeing the magistrate the next day. Harper and Irene both plead guilty to their charges and it was there that they were released pending sentencing. Harper's lawyer revealed to her that Irene had prior convictions to her name and Harper was advised to distance herself from Irene. However, Harper refused and instead suggested that both she and Dana look for employment in Summer Bay in order to support Irene. However, Irene actually asked the two sisters to move out of the Beach House, due to Dana, but Harper chose to stand by Irene. On their own persistence, both Harper and Dana attended Irene's court case and it was then that all charges against Irene were dropped as well as Harper's own charges, much to the relief of everybody.
Friendship with Tane Parata
In November 2023, following the end of Harper's struggles with the law, writers established a friendship between Harper and local gym owner Tane Parata.Harper, being left unemployed, starts to fill her time with gym sessions at Summer Bay Fit. It is there that she befriends Tane and became a sounding board for him as his marriage to Felicity Newman began to break down. Harper ends up finding employment at Northern District Health and continues her training sessions with Tane.
However, Felicity wants nothing more than a reconciliation with Tane but she takes notice of Tane and Harper growing closer and tells Harper to “back off.” To which Harper rebuts but later regrets. Harper considers placing some distance between herself and Felicity before Felicity apologises to her. Harper and Tane continue their friendship and after Tane confronts Felicity and confirms to her that their marriage is over, Tane is feeling happy in himself.
Tane debriefs his conversation with Felicity to Harper the next day during a training session. However, Tane misreads Harper's friendship towards him and kisses her. Harper immediately pulls away from Tane and leaves the training session abruptly. Tane manages to catch up to Harper and she tells Tane that it is best if they keep their distance from one another. Harper tells Dana about the situation to which she only finds amusement but Harper is adamant that she will not be another rebound for Tane. After speaking to Cash, Tane agrees that it is best if Harper and himself keep their distance. Tane apologizes to Harper and passes on details of another personal trainer to her as a solution to their problems. However, the two decide to go back to being friends after Harper approaches Tane on the beach after seeing him finish up a bootcamp class. Harper tells Tane that she wants their friendship to continue and the two decide to agree to act as if nothing had ever happened between them. Felicity later overhears that Tane kissed Harper in a conversation between Harper and Dana.
Harper approaches Tane to warn him about this. Tane and Felicity later come face-to-face and they approach the subject of Tane's kiss. Felicity surprises Tane by reaffirming that their marriage is over and that she could not care about his kiss with Harper. However, Tane's surprise at Felicity's maturity regarding the situation leads to them having a moment of passion and they end up sleeping together.
After this, Tane takes off to New Zealand and is unsure of when he will be back.
Later, Harper learns that her ex-fiancé, Tony, is welcoming a baby with his new partner. This leaves Harper feeling deflated and as a result Dana sets Harper up on a date with Xander Delaney. Dana has Xander arrive at their home ready to take Harper on a date to the 'Moonlight at Salt' event that is taking place that night at Salt. Harper and Xander make for an exciting couple at Salt, however, the next morning they decide separately that they only like each other as friends and are better off being friends. Harper then finds herself signing up to a dating app and, at the advice of Tane, embarks upon an unfortunate date with a guy named Derek. Harper says that she quickly realizes that Derek is only interested in using Harper to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. After blowing off Derek's invite back to his place, Harper instead decides she would prefer to be with Tane and have pizza. After learning that Dana actually liked Xander, Harper encourages her to pursue him and the two eventually build a committed relationship together.