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 KAREN TRAVERS
Played by Peita Toppano
Full Name: Karen Mary Travers
First Ep: 001
Last Ep: 080
Total Featured: 74 Episodes
Crime: Murder
Sentence: Life, reduced to 2 years
Work Area: Laundry
Cellmates: Bea Smith, Noeline Bourke
Close To: Greg Miller, Steve Wilson
Previous Occupation: Schoolteacher
Current Status: Living in Queensland with Greg Miller
We are introduced to Karen in the first episode. Karen is a middle-class young woman given a life sentence in Wentworth for stabbing her abusive husband in the shower, after finding him in bed with another woman. Karen manages to make an enemy with Franky Doyle on her first day when Franky makes a pass at her. Karen annoys Franky by calling her an animal; this results with Karen being moved to a cell on her own. Karen is more than surprised to see her ex-fiancé, Greg Miller, as the prison doctor.
In episode 3, Karen becomes involved in the show’s first ever riot, lead by Franky Doyle. Franky is clamouring for the position of top dog, so when Bea Smith returns to Wentworth for murdering her husband after being paroled in the second episode, Franky’s nose is put right out of joint. Franky and a group of the other women (including Karen) start a riot in the dining room, taking officer Meg Jackson hostage. The riot ends tragically when Meg’s husband Bill, the prison psychologist, is stabbed by one of the inmates. Karen becomes a prime suspect for the murder, as she already stabbed her husband. Chrissie Latham turns out to be the actual murderess when Bea Smith forces her to confess in episode 4.
A relationship begins to resume between Karen and Greg Miller. In episode 11, Karen and the other women find out that Franky cannot read after she receives bad news about her brother. Karen decides to help Franky learn. During one of her lessons, Franky makes another pass at Karen. When Karen rejects her, Franky throws the table over and storms out. Franky then gets told that her brother has died. She is so upset that she climbs up onto the prison roof and stands on the edge. Fortunately, Karen spots her from the garden and eventually manages to talk her down in episode 12.
After a while in Wentworth, Karen applies for an appeal. She is found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in episode 25, and her sentence is reduced to 2 years. In episode 27, during a talk with her representative, Steve Wilson suggests that Karen should study at University and get a different job, as she probably wouldn’t be allowed to teach again. He says that if she were to study sociology, she could get the same sort of job as the prison social worker, Jean Vernon. Karen gets permission for day release to go to University.
In episode 55, Karen is finally released from Wentworth. She goes to stay with a friend of her mother’s, Mrs Whitton. Mrs Whitton soon proves to be the wrong kind of person that Karen wants to live with, so when one of her friends from University, Melinda Cross, invites Karen to stay with her, Karen doesn’t need much persuading, and moves in with Melinda in episode 57. Whilst living in Melinda’s flat, Karen finds employment as a waitress in a café. Her new occupation doesn’t last long when her boss tells her the job isn’t really for her. It is at this point that Karen is introduced to Angela Jeffries. With no job and nowhere to live, Karen stays a few nights in a hotel. She is offered a job and accommodation as Angela’s secretary which she accepts and moves in with her.
Karen and Angela work together on a project to develop a halfway house. They find a suitable property and start work on it. Angela finds it a struggle to find someone suitable to run the house once it is opened, but then decides to give Karen the job of managing it. When Karen hears the news that ex-prisoner ‘Mum’ Brooks has taken ill, she moves in temporarily with her pregnant granddaughter, Judith-Anne. When ‘Mum’ is well enough to come home from hospital, Karen moves straight into the halfway house. When Doreen Anderson is released from Wentworth, Karen attempts to reunite her with her mother. When her mother dies from terminal cancer, Karen comforts Doreen in every way she can.
After a slightly rough relationship in the past, Karen and Greg Miller get back together again. In episode 78, tragedy strikes when the couple spend a romantic evening together at Greg’s practice. Pat O’Connoll’s (an inmate from Wentworth) son David believes that Greg is responsible for his mother’s imprisonment and the death of his friend, after Greg gave evidence at Pat’s court hearing. David decides to take revenge and shoot Greg at his practice when he answers the telephone. Karen mistakenly answers the phone and is shot instead.
Karen is rushed to hospital with extensive injuries from gunshot and glass fragments. Greg is told that Karen will certainly die if she doesn’t have an operation in episode 79. Karen’s mother and Angela Jeffries are concerned about her condition. The doctor asks Karen’s mother for permission to operate on her, the operation goes well and Karen is stable. In episode 80, we last see Karen in hospital after she regains consciousness, she and Greg make plans to move to Queensland and get married.
© 2008 John McRobbie for On The Inside. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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Classic Moment:
Karen quickly learns to adjust to prison life (#001)
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