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Welcome to the CAST section.

Of course, we're going to look into the main cast. That is the Barton family and other characters that appear in multiple episodes. You'll find profiles for them a bit further down this page.

But we'll start off with a compilation of every actor listed in the end credits of an episode; we're not leaving anyone out here.

About the profiles
Every profile contains information on the person and his/her work that is either publicly available or was told to me by the cast member him/herself or is information that came up in chats with other cast members.

If there's an interview with the cast member available, a handy link to that page is at the bottom of that person's profile. All interviews can be found under the Interview tab in the menu.

Let's go!


End credits compilation (cast only)

NameCharacterNote
Adams, GaryNewsagentAppears in Three Little Pigs
Aiton, SilasUnnamed characterAppears in Half-time
Ambrose, MitchKevin (Anthony's friend)Appears in Suspected
Andrew, ChristianEggAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
Baker, LesleyMrs. Davies-
Barber, BridgetUnnamed characterAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
Barber, RebeccaUnnamed characterAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
Bishop, JohnPhotographerAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
Bridges, DonBob LangdonAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
Buckley, PaulPolicemanAppears in Three Little Pigs
Capon, PhilippaUnnamed characterAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Clark, MaudMrs CorkhumAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Clayton, MichaelUnnamed characterAppears in Half-time
Collins, RamseyUnnamed characterAppears in Bye Bye Bartons
Court, FredUnnamed characterAppears in Position Vacant
D'Angelo, PacificoLee MorriconiAppears in Bartons on the Beach
Dawson, JulieUnnamed characterAppears in Bye Bye Bartons
Day, MattPaul Barton-
Edwards, MaureenJulia Snoller (Ms India)-
Ellen, CliffFootball coachAppears in Half-time
Essex, RobertMr Laury Jensen-
Feelt, TriciaPostwomanAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
Friend, RachelMirandaAppears in Bartons on the Beach
Garner, AliceVivienne BoneAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Gas, EmroPolicemanAppears in Three Little Pigs
Halsall, BobUnnamed characterAppears in Position Vacant
Harkin, OliviaElly BartonTogether with Frankie J. Holden, Liv is the only actor to appear in all episodes
Harris, ChrisColin (Anthony's friend)Appears in Suspected
HimselfMax the Dog-
Holden, Frankie J.Robert Barton (Dad)Together with Olivia, Frankie is the only actor to appear in all episodes
Horoch, SallyUnnamed characterAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Jennifer Jarman-WalkerClare Barton (Mum)-
Keane, FinnUnnamed characterAppears in Half-time
Kenneally, NatasjaSusan Davies (The Lonely Girl)-
Lichter, ChristinaMrs Capaletti-
Lovett, AlanMr Tommy Snoller-
McEwan, KatrinaUnnamed characterAppears in Bye Bye Bartons
Merory, AlexandraEggAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
Merrett, EmilyUnnamed characterAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Mills, BriannaEggAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
Naughton, LeeUnnamed characterAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
Noonan, BenUnnamed characterAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
Noonan, LauraSimone McPhersonAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
O'Reilly, MichaelAnthony Barton-
Osborne, ClintonUnnamed characterAppears in Half-time
Parkin, EvaPetal MoochmoreAppears in Suspected
Pellone, ChristianVince Capaletti-
Phelan, AnneMrs FrawleyAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Pocock, RachelEggAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers
Robertson, SimoneUnnamed characterAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Rolley, BrookeUnnamed characterAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Ruggiero, BobMr Capaletti-
Schaik, Andree vanShelleyAppears in Beautiful Beetroot
Schimizzi, DonnyUnnamed characterAppears in Half-time
Siverson, LouiseAngela Appears in Position Vacant
Smith, PippaYvonne McPherson-
Smith, RosemaryAnita McPherson-
Snell, GeofreyEggAppears in The Barton League of Bird Lovers and The Great Billycart Aid Race
Toovey, BenDouglas Barton-
Webb, FrankSkinner (Mervyn) Davies-
Webster, BrandonUnnamed characterAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
Wilkinson, PhillipUnnamed characterAppears in Bye Bye Bartons
Yaffe, RuthMrs McPhersonAppears in The Great Billycart Aid Race
1 2 3 ··· 10 +

Note: the episode Beautiful Beetroot features the 2nd Glen Waverley Guide Company as the Banksiawood Girl Guides Emu Patrol. They are collectively credited as the Glen Waverley Guide Troup on the episode's end credits.

Olivia Harkin
Elly Barton
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Photo: Olivia Harkin, backstage on the set of Bye Bye Bartons in 1987.


Private photo, kindly provided by Olivia from her own personal collection.


Olivia Harkin was born in Melbourne in August 1975.

In 1986, Olivia played the lead part of Snow White in the Kaboodle episode Snow White and the Dreadful Dwarves, with a cast including several other children from her school. The production was written and directed by Jan Sardi, who was previously her drama teacher and who went on to be quite succesful.

A year later, at age 11, Olivia was cast as Elly Barton. She got time off from classes to film her part, as the shooting of the series went from March through to mid August 1987. The Bartons aired in Australia in February of the next year.

Fans had to wait four years before getting a glimpse of her on the screen again. In 1992, at age 16, she guest starred as Jacquie in the Australian police drama Phoenix, episode Shaking the tree, unfortunately missing her TV mum Jennifer Jarman-Walker by a season. The last time we saw Olivia on a screen was in a small part in the independently produced short film Lucy's Heart in 2005, as vengeful wife Edith Brown.

If you happened to live near Canberra and enjoyed good theatre in the early noughties, you could have spotted Olivia on stage. She took part in both amateur and pro-am theatre productions from time to time in the ACT area. Most notably playing Grace 'Lambchops' Lamb in the 2002 Acton The Street Theatre production of Fame, in which she did some "terrific drumming" according to this review (originally published in Canberra Times, copied onto Blogger by the author). Other roles include Lily St Regis in Annie (2003, Theatre 3, Acton).

Here's the complete list of stage appearances:

As Olivia Harkin:

Fame - The Musical
G-String Productions, 27 June 2002, The Street Theatre, Acton, ACT
As Grace 'Lambchops' Lamb

Chicago 
Canberra Philharmonic Society, 20 February 2003, Erindale Theatre, Wanniassa, ACT
As Go-To-Hell Kitty

Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde 
Canberra Repertory Society, 2 May 2003, Theatre 3, Acton, ACT
As Constance Wilde (Oscar's wife)

Cosi 
Free-Rain Theatre Company, 6 August 2003, Courtyard Studio, Civic Square, ACT
As Julie the drug addict

Grease 
G-String Productions, 13 November 2003, The Street Theatre, Acton, ACT
As Marty in the Pink Ladies

Annie 
Supa Productions, 16 January 2004, Theatre 3, Acton, ACT
As Lily St Regis (Rooster's girlfriend)

Fiddler on the Roof 
Canberra Philharmonic Society, 19 February 2004, Erindale Theatre, Wanniassa, ACT
As The Fiddler

Absolutely Fabulous 
The Players Company, 30 July 2004, Gallery Cafe, Bruce, ACT
As Eddie

As Olivia Wenholz:

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story
Supa Productions, 11 May 2007, ANU Arts Centre, Acton, ACT
As Mrs Santiago

A Streetcar Named Desire
Free-Rain Theatre Productions, 19 June 2024, Kingston, ACT
As Nurse/"A Strange Woman" (final scene)

Olivia changed her name to Olivia Wenholz when she got married. She currently lives in Canberra with her husband and two sons and was quite "gobsmacked" when I told her the series made such an impact overseas and that she has fans all over the world :)


01 The Siege of Bartons' Bathroom

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Robert tries to convince Elly to come out of the bath and give up her siege.

13 Kaboodle clip

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A clip from the Kaboodle episode Snow White and the Dreadful Dwarves" (series 1, episode 7, from 1986)

15 Phoenix clip 01

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Clip from the Phoenix episode Shaking the Tree (series 1, episode 9, from 1992) starring a 16 year old Olivia Harkin as Jacquie




As Elly Barton
in C/o The Bartons

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As Snow White
in Kaboodle

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As Snow White
in Kaboodle

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As Jacquie
in Phoenix

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As Edith Brown
in Lucy's Heart

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Matt Day
Paul Barton
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Matt Day in character as Paul Barton in 1987

Still from the episode
Suspected, digitised by me. Used under fair use.
Born on 28 September 1971 in Melbourne, Australia, Matt moved to the United States with his father when he was 11. After picking up an interest for acting and moving back to Australia, he was discovered by an agent during a play when he was 14 years old. The agent got him the audition for C/o The Bartons, his first role, in 1987.

Matt went on to be one of Australia's more succesful actors, appearing in no less than fifteen feature films, over 25 television productions and at least eight stage productions.

In his own words, his big break was a combination of his parts in A Country Practice in 1989, followed by his role in Muriel's Wedding in 1994.

Matt is also a film maker, producing short films such as My Everything (2003), Wish (2008) and Beat (2011). His latest project, The Mother Situation (2017) in which he also stars, is available for free on Youtube (see below).

Matt is currently living in Sydney with his wife (journalist Kirsty Thomson) and their two sons.






View contents from YouTube.com
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The Mother Situation (complete short film)

From the Strange Matter Films YouTube channel



11 Suspected (2)

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Paul's punch

16 A Country Practice (Opening credits)

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The opening credits to A Country Practice, with Matt Day and Maureen Edwards.

02 The Barton League of Bird Lovers

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The League is born




As Paul Barton
in C/o The Bartons

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As Ross
in My Year Without Sex

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As Brice
in Muriel's Wedding

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Rosemary Smith
Anita McPherson
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Photo: Rosemary Smith, backstage on the set of Bye Bye Bartons in 1987


Private photo, kindly provided by Olivia from her own personal collection
Rosemary Smith grew up in Hawthorn, a suburb of Melbourne.

She attended Year 6 of the Presbytarian Ladies College in Burwood, Victoria, when her school received a letter from the ABC looking for children who'd like to audition for The Bartons.

She responded, originally going in to audition for the role of Elly, but she turned out to be the Anita McPherson the production was looking for and was offered that role instead.

Her younger sister Pippa Smith was also cast, as Anita's sister Yvonne McPherson.

Rosemary did not pursue an acting career after Bartons.


03 Half-time (2)

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Elly rubs salt in Anita's wounds after they discovered Vince and Susan's secret relationship.

05 Three Little Pigs

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A chocolate bribe.




As Anita McPherson
in C/o The Bartons

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As Anita McPherson
in C/o The Bartons

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Ben Toovey
Douglas Barton
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Ben Toovey in character as Douglas Barton in 1987

Still from the episode
The Great Billycart Aid Race, digitised by me. Used under fair use.
Ben Toovey played Douglas Barton. He was nine years old when he went to the audition for the role of seven year old Douglas Barton. He didn't have to wait long though, as he was noticed by Jenny Hooks while sitting in the lobby waiting his turn.







Michael O'Reilly
Anthony Barton
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Michael O'Reilly in character as Anthony Barton in 1987

Still from the episode
Bartons on the Beach, digitised by me. Used under fair use.
Michael O'Reilly portrayed Anthony. He was around 16 years old at the time of shooting, and attended a boys school in St. Kilda.

According to IMDb.com he played in several productions before and after C/o The Bartons, but I'm honestly not sure if Michael's IMDb.com profile is entirely accurate; unless Michael really did appear as the character Chameleon in the episode Stowaway of the Australian sci-fi series Phoenix Five (IMDb) in 1970…. when he was just a baby… or possibly not even born yet.

Anyway…

Luckily we have some certainties too.

Michael portrayed a member of The Brown Street Boys in two episodes of The Henderson Kids II (IMDb) in 1987. Thanks to fellow-Brown Street Boy Damian MacAlpine I was able to confirm this is the same Michael O'Reilly. There's a screen capture from one of the episodes below, again thanks to Damian.

I have also been able to confirm that Michael had a small speaking role as an athlete in The Four Minute Mile (IMDb), a made for TV film coproduced by the BBC and the ABC in 1988. See the screen capture from that film below. As a side note: Cliff Ellen, the actor who portrayed Paul's football coach in Half-time a year earlier, also appears in that film.

That's all I have on Michael; I have not been able to find him as of yet. So Michael, if you happen to read this, please get in touch.



As Anthony Barton
in C/o The Bartons

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As "Young Runner"
in The Four Minute Mile (part 2)

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As a member of "The Brown Street Boys"
in The Henderson Kids II

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Frankie J. Holden
Robert Barton/"Father"
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Frankie J. Holden as Robert Barton in 1987

Still from the episode
The Siege of Bartons' Bathroom, digitised by me. Used under fair use.
Born as Peter Brian on 18 December 1952, he adopted the stage name of Frankie J. Holden when he became lead singer for Ol'55; an Australian retro rock and roll band who had world wide success in the mid 70's. His stage name is a nod to the FJ Holden, an Australian made car which was introduced in the same year he was born.

In the '80s he expanded his resume with presenting television programmes and acting, the latter very successfully so. He landed one of his first television roles as Robert Barton in C/o The Bartons. This was the same role that he played in the earlier Jocelyn Moorhouse short film The Siege of Barton's Bathroom (1986) upon which that television series is based. He is the only actor who reprised his role from the short film in the television series.

Frankie went on to star in several big television productions, most recently A Place to Call Home and Home and Away, both of which are international successes. In 2022 he played Ted Grimley in the miniseries Underbelly: The Vanishing Act, a one-off sequel to the 2008 series Underbelly - in which he played a different character.

He also starred in the first series of Round the Twist, as real estate agent and main 'villain' Harold Gribble.

Since the 13th of June 2016, Frankie holds the Medal of the Order of Australia, an honour awarded to him for "service to the arts as an entertainer, and to the community of the Sapphire Coast." (site loads slowly).

Frankie lives with his wife and daughter in Tathra, New South Wales, close to the holiday park he owns there. He still plays music with his band at the park and occasionally does gigs outside of the park. He's currently playing Ian Shaw in Home and Away.




As "Father"
in The Siege of Barton's
Bathroom (1986 short film)

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Image credit: ACMI

As Harold Gribble
in Round the Twist (Series 1)

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As David Kazalian
in Neighbours

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As Roy Briggs
in A Place to Call Home

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Jennifer Jarman-Walker
Clare Barton
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Jennifer Jarman-Walker as Clare Barton in 1987

Still from the episode
Bartons on the Beach, digitised by me. Used under fair use.
Jennifer Jarman-Walker, sometimes credited as Jenny, and sometimes with only Jarman as her surname, will for us always be Mrs Barton. But her resume is so much longer than that.

Before COTB, she appeared in top billing television series as Home, Prisoner and Neighbours. After the Bartons she appeared as Summerbum in Pugwall, as Cath Darby in Phoenix (missing Olivia Harkin's guest role on that show by a season) and returning to Neighbours in a different role (as Wendy Slater) in 1993.

Other screen credits include Something in the Air (as Maureen O'Connor; TV husband Frankie J. Holden starred in this series) and Blue Heelers (three different roles),

On stage, Jennifer has appeared as the witch Meg in The Meg and Mog Show (1988, Alexander Theatre, Clayton, Victoria) and in The Drought (1994, Napier Street Theatre, South Melbourne, Victoria) and Fairy Tales for the Future (also 1994, La Mama, Carlton, Victoria).


As Clare Barton
in C/o The Bartons

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As Julie Cameron
in Prisoner Cellblock H

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As Beryl Simmonds
in Prisoner Cellblock H

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As Angelica Cammeniti
in Neighbours

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Alan Lovett
Mr Snoller
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Alan Lovett as Tommy Snoller in 1987

Still from
Mr Snoller's Black Bag, digitised by me
Alan Lovett portrayed Mr Tommy Snoller on The Bartons.

He's from Melbourne, Victoria and has been acting on television and film throughout the 80s. For his role as Mr Snoller on Bartons, he put on a British accent.

Alan runs the Melbourne Trivia Co, a company that helps organise trivia nights for all kinds of purposes, and acts on stage with his Zoom Company theatre group. As a stage actor he is known for his poetry shows in Australia, Canada, the UK and Japan, reciting poetry in both English and Japanese. Most Melburnians know him as the city's official Santa Claus, a role he's played from the 1980s through to the 2000s.

Alan is the writer for the 2011 book Trivia Nights for Dummies (part of the famous …for Dummies series)

Other screen credits include Prisoner Cell Block H (as Deputy Inspector Fields) and My Brother Tom (as Jamison).

Below is a 2008 interview with Alan as Santa:

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A 2008 interview with Alan as Santa

From Alan's own YouTube channel


As Mr Snoller
in C/o The Bartons

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As Detuty Inspector Fields
in Prisoner Cellblock H

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Alice Garner
Vivienne Bone
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Alice Garner as Vivienne Bone in 1987

Still from the episode Beautiful Beetroot. Digitised by me. Used under fair use.
Although only appearing in one episode, as Vivienne in Beautiful Beetroot, Alice Garner still gets her own profile on the cast page.

Daughter of Australian screenwriter and novelist Helen Garner, she has quite a resume, starting way before Bartons and far beyond it. Before her role in COTB, she played Gracie in the adaptation of her own mother's novel Monkey Grip. Which is very fitting as that character was based on Alice by her mum (so who to play her better?). The role got her a nomination for an AFI Award.

She starred with Matt Day and Kym Cyngell in Love and Other Catastrophies in 1996 before landing the role of Carmen in SeaChange in 1998. She returned to the big screen in 1999 in Strange Planet (as Sally); the spiritual successor to Love and Other Catastrophies with much of the same cast and crew.

She had a recurring role in the popular television series The Secret Life of Us as Caitlin in 2001 and 2002 (series 1 and 2) and played Elissa in the 2006 Ray Lawrence drama Jindabyne with Gabriel Byrne.

Alice also has an academic career, having published three papers. She teached history and French at Albert Park College. She combined her academic knowledge with her love for the camera as one of the hosts of History Channel's Coast Australia.

Alice Garner is married and has three children.

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Please note that YouTube is an external service and not covered by our privacy policy. Please read YouTube's privacy policy to see how it collects and handles your (personal) data.
Trailer to Love and Other Catastrophies



As Vivienne Bone
in C/o The Bartons

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As Alice
in Love and Other Catastrophies
(film poster)

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