Matthew Herbert Tyler

Matt Tyler was the son of Wagga Wagga vet Gil Tyler and his wife, Daphne. Matt went out with Cathy Hayden a couple of time while they attending New England University together (he was pursuing an Arts degree). Matt quit Uni, however, to bum his way through Europe and the South Pacific (including surfing in Bali). His mother would send him money whenever he needed it but when she died and his father insisted there would be no more handouts, Matt had no choice but to return to school. This time he decided to take Veterniary Science at Sydney University, where he passed with flying colours. He got a locum job in Bowral, NSW, but a disastrous love affair forced him to flee to Wandin Valley.

He stayed with Cathy at her farm where he was constantly making a play for her. When Cathy sold the farm, he stayed with the Gilroys for awhile but begged Cathy to let him come live with her in Boolaroo. He was a good vet, very kind hearted, and this did not sit well with his father, whose eye was always on the cash flow or lack thereof (since he had been the one to initially finance both Matt's education and the practice).

When Lucy Gardiner began living with Cathy as well, she and Matt were initially just friends . They fell hard for each other while Cathy was away in Kakadu. Matt, who at the time was hosting a radio show called "Valley Vet" on Burrigan Radio, proposed to Lucy over the air. When Cathy sold Booloaroo, he and Lucy lived separately with various residents of the Valley before finally deciding to move in together. They began renovating their dream home before they got married but the house (and just about everything they owned) was destroyed in a huge bush fire (that was set by a pyromaniac). They eventually found and bought another farmhouse (that is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a little girl named Erin and boasts an old rickety wood stove that Lucy calls "Ivan the Terrible"). Matt set up his new surgery on the new property, freeing up the room at Shirley's home for her office. Matt and Lucy's marriage (like most Wandin Valley weddings) almost didn't happen, when Lucy's mom and dad threatened to split up.

Lucy, after much trying and more heartbreak, finally gave birth to a baby boy, which they named James, in April 1992. Matt patched up things with his father, who was dying, and Matt and Lucy moved to Vietnam shortly after James' birth, to work on Matt's father's project there.

		The role of Matt Tyler was played by John Tarrant