First Appearance: Episode 1 (1982)

Last Appearance: Episode 972 (1987)

Known Family: Father - Doug Palmer; Mother - Alice Palmer; Wife (1) - Beryl Palmer; 'Son' - John Palmer; Son - Kevin Palmer; Daughter - Susan Palmer/Todd/Hamilton; Son - Robert Palmer; Daughter (by Frannie Henderson) - Leigh Palmer; Daughter-in-Law - Lynn Hardy/Palmer; Wife (2) - Patricia Hamilton

Key Relationships:
Flings with both Patricia Dunne and her sister, Margaret, in the 1960s; Marriage to Beryl Palmer (née Keegan) (divorced 1984); Affair with Margaret Dunne (d. 1984) in the 1980s; Marriage to Patricia Morrell (1984); Fling with Laura Banning

Key Storylines:
As a character who appeared in Sons and Daughters from the very beginning right through until nearly the very end, David Palmer had numerous storylines. Here is a selection:

Melbourne teenager David Palmer chased after local girl Patricia Dunne for some time in the early 1960s. They ended up together and Patricia fell pregnant. She gave birth to twins, but took off with the girl, leaving David with the boy, whom he named John. By 1982, David is living in Melbourne with his wife, Beryl, his children by her, Susan and Kevin, and John, who moved to live with David and Beryl when he was five years old. David has a tendency to lose his temper quickly, and has always found it hard to get close to his kids.

After John is accused of murder, he runs away to Sydney, where he meets Angela Hamilton - who turns out to be his twin sister. Through her, David meets Patricia again, twenty years after he last saw her. It's clear that there's still chemistry between them and an affair quickly ensues. David breaks it off, though, and returns to Beryl, who accepts his assurances that he has Patricia out of his system. Beryl falls pregnant again - but when David returns to Melbourne after attending Angela's wedding to Rob Keegan, he discovers to his shock that Beryl has suffered a miscarriage. Having known nothing about this, David is stunned when Beryl snaps that he put Patricia ahead of her and doesn't want to see him again.

Beryl moves away to Sydney, leaving Patricia to move into the Palmer house in Melbourne. It doesn't take long, though, for David to become annoyed with the way she starts trying to run his life. He soon sees sense and goes to plead with Beryl to come back to him. She agrees. In revenge for the way he treated her, Patricia tells David bitterly that he's not really John and Angela's father; it's actually Martin Healy, who she was seeing just before she started seeing David in the 1960s.

John tracks Martin down, but a few months later David finds himself being arrested for murdering Martin after finding the man dead. He's remanded in custody at HM Prison Pentridge, where he befriends teenager Tony Parker. When a suicide note that Martin wrote emerges, David is cleared. Tony is freed from prison at the same time and David invites him to come and stay with the Palmers. This brings the Palmers into contact with Tony's violent criminal father, Joe - and Joe Parker ends up holding several people hostage at Woombai. David is shot when the siege comes to a head, and he almost dies in hospital. Fortunately, the doctors manage to revive him.

As he recuperates, David becomes closer to Patricia's sister, Margaret Dunne, who confesses that she framed him for Martin's murder and wants to make it up to him. Beryl inherits a fortune in Dee Morrell's will. It leads her to become more independent, and David finds himself spending more time alone, feeling increasingly resentful of his wife's new interests. He enjoys Margaret's company and it isn't long before they kiss. When Beryl finds out about the affair, she tells David that she wants a year's separation and then a divorce. David accepts this. He subsequently tells Margaret that he wants to marry her - but sadly, Margaret dies following complications during an operation she has to undergo after being injured in a light-'plane crash. In a letter handed to David by Margaret's solicitor following her death, she asks him to look after Patricia for her.

David ends up moving into an apartment with Patricia. The time they spend together brings them closer again, and David eventually asks Patricia to marry him. On the day of their wedding, however, Patricia discovers that she's been bankrupted by her employee, Luke Carlyle, and she runs out of her wedding, telling David that she can't go through with marrying him when she has no money. Luke is subsequently found dead, and his father, Roger, looks upon Patricia as the number one suspect. He sends a hitman and a crooked surgeon, Ross Newman, after her, but Patricia manages to evade them or survive their attempts to get her. She does eventually agree again to marry David - but only a few days after their wedding, David discovers that she's fled Australia in order to stop Roger Carlyle from killing her. He learns that she's gone to Rio de Janeiro.

Beryl gives birth to a baby son, Robert, that she conceived during a brief final night together between her and David nine months earlier. Meanwhile, David is shocked to discover that he has a teenage daughter he knew nothing about: Leigh, the result of a fling that David had with his brother, Ray's, wife, Frannie, many years earlier.

After several months, David decides to head to Rio to track down Patricia. He discovers that she's had plastic surgery - and when he finds a woman calling herself 'Sarah' - who looks not dissimilar to how Patricia used to look - he becomes convinced that she's Patricia and he marries her and brings her back to Australia. It becomes clear that he's made a mistake, though, when he meets a mysterious new arrival in Australia, Alison Carr. David realises that she's Patricia, but after they have a heated discussion, they decide things are over between them. Sarah runs away after Alison makes her feel unwelcome.

David has to cope with Leigh committing suicide after being put on trial for kidnapping baby Robert. He also becomes concerned after Susan begins a relationship with Wayne Hamilton - and when they then decide to marry, David does his best to put a halt to things. He's unsuccessful, though.

When David meets businesswoman Laura Banning, he's attracted to her; and she's equally attracted to him because of his brusque, no-nonsense style. Laura tries to give David advice on setting-up his new chauffeuring company - but when she tries to force him to sack Caroline Morrell because she's spent time in prison, David refuses and tells Laura that their relationship is over.

Despite trying to steer clear of Alison, David becomes involved with her again when she gets tangled-up with Colin and Jean Hopkins. The Hopkins's end up locking David and Alison in a freezer together, and they have plenty of time to talk as they face the prospect of death. They're rescued in time, and although David has to undergo treatment in hospital, he survives the ordeal. The events also make him focus on his life, and he decides to try again with Beryl. He goes as far as asking her to marry him again - but she turns him down, leaving David devastated. He decides to head off to do some travelling and escape everything that's haunted his life in Sydney and Melbourne.

Several months later, David reads in a newspaper that Alison has been made bankrupt. He tracks her down to a seedy motel in Sydney. He finds her in a miserable, depressed state - but when Alison sees David standing there, a smile crosses her face, she runs to him and they start kissing passionately, as if they were still the teenagers of 25 years earlier...