Dana Matheson
Dana Matheson (2023-present)
Ally Harris
Episodes: 8095-present
Siblings: Harper Matheson
Occupation: Nurse
Harper’s sister was introduced on the run after being accused of drug theft, after drugs were found in her flat and her boyfriend Olly insisted they were hers. After Harper openly took a room at Irene’s place, she sneaked Dana in during the night. Dana quickly chafed at having to hide away, with Harper having to coax her back into the house when she stormed out in a huff. She later headed down the beach, shortly before Harper’s police officer friend Cash Newman, who had been looking into the case for her, turned up at the house and discovered Dana. He threatened to take her to the station, despite having realised that Will Madden, the detective in charge of the case, was corrupt. Dana told him that the prior drug charges Madden had mentioned were when she was young and Harper had helped her clean up her act: She’d since become a nurse and her pass had been used to steal the drugs from a hospital where she worked. Cash agreed to let Dana keep hiding. She revealed she and Harper were having lunch together at the time of the theft, something Madden tried to keep hidden, and rang Olly to taunt him about the fact she’d soon be in the clear but Madden ended up getting the CCTV footage before Cash could. They realised Olly must have tipped him off, indicating the pair were working together.
When Irene returned to the house from visiting her granddaughter, Dana went back to hiding in Harper’s room but Irene soon found her. She agreed to help the pair, but when Madden turned up, Dana turned herself in to protect Harper. Madden and his henchman Fletcher instead took her to a warehouse that was the haunt of a drug dealer. Dana managed to briefly get free and call Harper’s phone. Madden injected her with fenantyl, aiming to make it look like suicide, but she was found by Cash and Rose, who had traced the call. Dana recovered in hospital and confirmed Madden tried to kill her, leading to his arrest. Soon after, Dana was officially cleared and could finally move openly around Summer Bay.
Keen to settle in Summer Bay, Dana applied for a job as a private nurse looking after Roo, who was just out of hospital. She explained about losing her last job because of the theft accusation and Roo agreed to hire her. Marilyn asked Dana to let her know Roo’s condition but Dana wasn’t comfortable spying on Roo, before making a failed attempt to bring the two women back together. She ended up needing support of her own when Harper and Irene were arrested for hiding her from the police. She was worried when Harper refused to follow her lawyer’s advice and stay away from Irene, and looked into Irene’s past online, learning she’d been charged with grievous bodily harm once. With Marilyn having moved back in with Roo, Dana accidentally landed them in it with Alf by going to Roo for a reference, then spoke with Bree about a job at Northern Districts. Worried when Harper continued to ignore her lawyer’s advice as Irene’s sentencing date approached, Dana convinced Irene to tell Harper to move out. Despite this, Harper reminded her of how Irene had supported them and they both ended up accompanying her to court. In the end, the cases against both Irene and Harper were dismissed.
Eager to pay back the town for their support, Dana signed up for the bronze medallion. However, her first class was less than relaxing with John in a bad mood throughout. On her first day at Northern Districts, she ended up helping treat Mackenzie, who had been admitted with a heart attack, and was reunited with surgeon Levi Fowler, who knew her from St Luke’s but told her he didn’t care about the gossip about her. She learned John had been banned from teaching after another member of her class, Banjo Henderson, made a complaint and offered to talk to Banjo, but crossed wires resulted in him thinking they were on a date. She asked him to withdraw the complaint anyway and he explained his father was the one who insisted on pushing ahead with it. John took her out for a meal (one course) to thank her anyway and she encouraged his plans to set up a surf skills school to prepare people for bronze medallion, before Alf reinstated him at the surf club. She treated Mackenzie again when she was readmitted with a blood clot, defending Xander when Levi blamed him for her leaving hospital and giving everyone in town an update.
On learning a number of committee members had resigned, she convinced Banjo to tell the surf club committee and the police that his father Simon had bribed them but was left feeling guilty when it led to Banjo quitting the bronze medallion course. She tried to advise Cash in his investigation into an anonymous donation at the surf club, then teamed up with Xander to plan an event at Salt. They came up with the idea of a couples night which they dubbed Moonlight at Salt, and Dana convinced Xander and Harper to go together, but was disappointed when they decided to remain friends. However, she then realised she had a crush on Xander herself. When first Irene and then Harper found out, they encouraged her to go for it, only for Xander to tell her he saw her as a little sister. Shortly after, she officially passed her bronze medallion.
In an attempt to prove she was over Xander, she arranged a coffee with Peter Rolfe, not realising until after he had pumped her for information that he was a muckraking journalist looking for information on Tane and the baby girl he had found abandoned, who he had named Maia and who Dana was helping look after at the hospital. She tried to apologise to Tane about the resulting article but he gave her short shrift. She argued with Harper about their addict parents, feeling they’d have been better off being abandoned. She made an attempt to keep a record of everyone who left the baby a gift until Rose and Harper told her to stop. She got roped into helping John with his celebrant training by letting him perform a mock ceremony with her and Xander.
She made the mistake of telling Tane that Maia had a temperature, resulting in him going to the hospital despite being told to stay away. After having her first shift as a lifesaver, she took Bree for a drink and was upset when Bree drunkenly kissed Xander. With Maia about to be sent to a foster family, Dana sneaked Tane into the hospital to say goodbye only for him to kidnap her, leaving her to explain what had happened to the police, just before Sonia Rickards came forward and revealed “Maia” was her daughter Poppy. When she learned Rose had the final say over whether Harper would be charged for not immediately telling the police where Tane was, she went round and tried to pressure her into not proceeding. This led to her arguing with Xander and when she went round to apologise, they ended up sleeping together. She sneaked out before he woke up the next morning but left her phone behind. After failing to convince Irene or Harper to retrieve it for her, she sneaked back in and was caught by Xander but managed to get out when Rose turned up. Xander told her the next day that he liked her and they got together. She worried Rose didn’t like her given their past clashes but Rose assured her she was fine with it as long as Xander was happy. They were disconcerted to realise they’d never been on a date so Xander arranged a meal and movie at his flat. Xander admitted he was finding it wearing for her to be at the flat all the time and she went into a panic until they talked things over.
She was then subpoenaed to testify against Tane. She fretted about it and, after failing to explain to John why she couldn’t do her lifesaver’s shift, was reduced to tears when she pressed the matter. On the stand, she was forced to recount the events that led to Tane taking Poppy. She was amused to learn Harper had slept with Tane and liked him. When she and John found a crate washed up on the beach, neither of them was able to resist opening it only to find it contained potting mix. John collapsed soon afterwards though and Dana ended up in isolation with him at the hospital despite not showing any symptoms. She was given the all-clear when it turned out John had actually been contaminated at the Diner.
She tried to get to know Bronte Langford, who Irene had brought to stay with them, but was suspicious about her inability to give details about either her terminal illness or the fact she had supposedly been poisoned at the Diner. On finding the link on her crowdfunding page, supposedly about experimental treatment, led to nothing, she concluded Bronte was making it up and confronted her but she denied it, and Dana was unable to convince Irene, Xander, Harper or John, and even telling Leah about the lawsuit made no difference. Her worries increased when Irene decided to pay Bronte compensation money out of her own pocket. She confronted Bronte and vowed to expose her.