Alastair John Clarke was born in Lismore in 1917. He was the youngest of 5 children born to James Martyn Clarke and Lily Livingstone. He married Valerie Una Quill in 1942 in Lakemba in Sydney. At the beginning of their married life they had farm near Casino. They moved to Sydney in 1945 where Alastair became a member of the Canterbury-Bankstown 1st Grade Rugby League team while persuing his profession as hairdresser.



After moving to Sydney they lived in a caravan for a short period and in 1951 they purchased a family home in Caringbah. They had seven children - Beverley Ann b.1944, Diane Lynn b. 1949, Pamela Joy b.1952, Raymond Allan b.1954, Michelle Marie b. 1957, Sharon Quill b.1960, Stephen James b.1963.



In 1955 they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They studied and embraced the principles of the Church. This included the documentation of their genealogical past. Alastair diligently researched the family tree and after the death of his mother, Lily, in 1970 he kept in safe possession the large collection of letters, postcards and newspaper clippings that Lily had accumulated during her life. The collection is a valuable source of family history and in 2010 all the letters and some of the newspaper clippings were published in a Blurb book called "Lily Livingstone Papers 1886 - 1973".



This book includes the letters received by Alastair from 1972 until his death in 1988 together with his mother's postcards as well as the numerous newspaper clippings and other miscellaneous documents from her collection.



The original documents for both books are now held by Alastair's daughter, Pamela Joy Ryan.