First Appearance: Episode 2 (1982)

Last Appearance: Episode 972 (1987)

Known Family: Brother - James Hamilton; Wife (1) - Nancy Andrews; Son - Wayne Hamilton; Wife (2) - Patricia Dunne; Stepdaughter - Angela Hamilton; Daughter - Mary Reynolds; Wife (3) - Barbara Armstrong; Wife (4) - Beryl Palmer

Key Relationships:
Liaison with Liz Smith while married to Barbara; Romance with Maggie Hunt following separation from Barbara

Key Storylines:
As one of the characters who appeared in Sons and Daughters from the very beginning to the very end, Gordon had numerous storylines. Here is a selection:

Gordon Hamilton's first wife, Nancy, gave birth to a son, Wayne. Sadly, Nancy died during the birth and, feeling unable to give a proper home to his son, Gordon sent Wayne to live with his retired parents, leaving him to run the family property at Woombai. When Wayne was five years old, Gordon decided to get a live-in nanny for him and, while he was at Fiona Thompson's boarding house for a business meeting in 1962, he met Patricia Dunne. Although she initially ignored him, they got talking. Gordon thought Patricia was a deserted mother and he offered her the nannying job, which she accepted. He took her to Woombai, where they eventually fell in love. Gordon readily took on the responsibility of raising Patricia's daughter, Angela, and agreed not to tell the girl that he wasn't her real father. By 1982, Gordon and Patricia have a very high social standing. Gordon owns the property at Woombai, and the family live in another Hamilton property, Dural.

When a young man called Scott Edwards arrives in Sydney, Gordon gives him a job at the Hamilton Stud. He's shocked when, a few weeks later, Patricia reveals that Scott is her son - and Angela's twin brother - John Palmer.

Gordon cuts Wayne off after learning from Angela that his son has been embezzling from him. This is just the first of many, many occasions over the years when Gordon throws Wayne out of Dural, only to make-up with him again sometime later! On this occasion, Wayne decides he wants to turn Woombai into an exclusive riding school, and Gordon agrees to support him on this.

After Patricia starts seeing David Palmer - John's father, with whom she had a fling in the 1960s - Gordon realises his marriage is over. Although he and Patricia do give things one more shot, Gordon eventually asks his wife for a divorce. Meanwhile, Gordon becomes closer to family friend Barbara Armstrong. He lands a job as Managing Director at Ramberg Industries and, after Barbara's husband, Roland, dies while overseas, asks Barbara to marry him once his divorce comes through. Barbara accepts the proposal. Unfortunately, when her daughter, Wendy, comes to visit, she takes a dislike to her prospective stepfather. It's only after Barbara is kicked in the head by a horse that Wendy sees how much Gordon cares for and loves her mother. Gordon quits Ramberg after Patricia and Wayne club together to buy a controlling share in the company.

After Barbara has recuperated from an operation to remove a blood clot from her brain, she and Gordon marry. Gordon goes into partnership with Barbara's brother, Stephen Morrell, only to then learn that Stephen doesn't have any money and relies on his mother, Dee, to provide funding for the business. Stephen quickly lets Gordon out of the partnership. Dee then dies and leaves a share of her fortune to Wayne, Beryl Palmer and Margaret Dunne - Patricia's sister. Gordon helps Beryl get to grips with looking after her inheritance.

Wayne discovers some love letters written between Gordon and Nancy when Nancy was pregnant with her son. They tell of all the hopes Gordon had for his son - and Wayne realises what a disappointment he must be for his father. Gordon actually comments to Wayne that he must realise what a mockery he's made of Gordon's hopes for him.

Gordon suffers the first of two heart attacks while involved in an argument with Barbara, Wayne, Amanda Morrell and Andy Green. He's rushed to hospital and spends a few days recovering. Back home, Wayne introduces Gordon to a new woman in his life: Liz Smith. Gordon quickly becomes fond of Liz - and he begins to fall in love. He ends up confessing the truth to Barbara, who leaves him. The stress of his affair causes Gordon to suffer a second heart attack - which he again survives. He decides that things can't go further with Liz and he asks her to leave. Meanwhile, he fights to get Barbara back - which means ending the relationship she's started with Dr. Ross Newman: Newman has got Barbara addicted to tranquillisers and once Gordon makes her see that Newman's no good for her, she pleads to Gordon to help her. She moves back into Dural.

To Gordon's - and Barbara's - shock, it turns out that Roland Armstrong isn't dead after all: he had to fake his death in order to join a witness protection programme in the US. When he returns to Australia, Barbara is torn between him and Gordon - but, to his relief, she chooses Gordon.

There's a further shock in store for Gordon when he meets teenager Mary Reynolds: she insists that Patricia is her mother, even though Gordon insists that she can't be, because he was married to Patricia at the time Mary was born and he'd have known if she was pregnant. Mary falls in love with Wayne and the couple marry - but Patricia - now having had plastic surgery and calling herself Alison Carr - reveals just in the nick of time, before Wayne and Mary consummate their relationship, that Mary is her daughter and that Gordon is Mary's father. The marriage is annulled. Mary moves away to spend some time learning to overcome problems she experiences with illiteracy.

When an old will is discovered in the roof at Woombai, Gordon learns that his father never meant to leave the property to him, but to his brother, James, who Gordon hasn't seen in many years. Although everyone advises Gordon to keep quiet about the will, Gordon insists that it's only fair that James be informed of his inheritance. James subsequently turns up at Dural to claim what's his. He teams-up with Alison, who delights in trying to tell Gordon how to run Woombai. After James asks Alison to marry him, he heads to Queensland to tie-up some business affairs, but is killed in a drunken accident on a ferris wheel.

While Gordon and Barbara are driving along in their car one day, they're involved in a collision with another car. They both suffer serious injuries: Barbara's face is badly damaged and Gordon experiences amnesia, causing him to think he's still married to Patricia and that Barbara's just a family friend. Unable to cope with what's happened, Barbara decides to leave Gordon and go and spend some time with Roland.

While he recuperates from the accident, Gordon moves into an apartment in a Sydney block called Seabreeze Towers. He meets the cleaner, Maggie Hunt, and her daughter, Cassie, and begins to become friendly with them. Maggie teaches him to cook and look after himself. Gordon doesn't say anything about his past, though, and when Maggie finds out she rejects him for having lied to her. Cassie brings about a reconciliation between the two adults, but Maggie finds herself a job as a cleaner in a small mining town and she and Cassie move away.

Alone once more, Gordon finds himself spending time with the also-single Beryl Palmer, as she tries to keep her daughter, Susan, away from Wayne. Gordon ends up asking Beryl to marry him. Although she is wary at first, she accepts the proposal. They wed, and Gordon then stands by Beryl as she pleads guilty to shooting Wayne. She's held on remand and then goes to trial. She's released after there's another attempt on Wayne's life while she's in court.

Gordon goes into business with Bill Sanders, Doug Fletcher and Alison Carr at Sanders' Air Charter. Just when everything seems to be going well, a 'plane is sabotaged. The company appears to be falling apart until a mystery company puts up some money to keep it going. Gordon discovers to his surprise that it was Wayne who was behind the rescue. Although the father and son have been on opposing sides for some time, Gordon remarks that it appears that Wayne might have changed for the better.

As he settles into his new home with Beryl and her son, Robert, in what was the Palmer house in Melbourne, Gordon finds himself content with life.