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Alf was a war baby, born in Summer Bay on 7th November 1946. His father, Gorden, would have liked more sons but in the end Alf had to cope with four sisters - Morag, Barbara, Celia and the unseen (and now forgotten) Debra.
Gordon believed his son should make his own way in the world and told him than on his death everything would go to his daughters. Gordon would not even let Alf come into his successful Boat Yard and Yacht Brokerage business. But Alf benefitted from the way his father brought him up and by the age of 30 he owned the Summer Bay Liqour Store, the Boat Hire Service, the Summer Bay Caravan Park and his own brokerage firm.
Alf married his teenage sweetheart Martha Baldivis on 5th April 1969. They had a daughter Roo who they adore and the family lived in Summer Bay House. When Martha drowned in 1985 Alf was shattered.
After her death, Alf could no longer stand living in Summer Bay House. As a tribute to her memory, he kept the house spick and span; in the meantime, the caravan park worsened into a state of disrepair when sold to the Fletchers. He also lost other businesses.
When Ailsa Hogan arrived in Summer Bay, he went out with her. He was attracted to her, but was unsure of how far he would like his relationship with her to go. Roo hated Ailsa so much, that she went great lengths to find something unsavoury about her. Despite Roo's hostility, Alf stuck with Ailsa, which Roo later accepted.
They married on the spot in a registry and surprised Roo and Celia.
In 1989, Alf was delighted when he had a son, whom they called Duncan. Unfortunately for him, Ailsa suffered from post-natal depression.
Alf's sister Celia bought Ailsa's store and when it burnt down she combined with Alf to build a new grocery and liquor market.
Alf had a few near heart attacks and was constantly told to slow down. Despite this, he still continued his busy life.
In 1995, Ailsa went through a period of depression. Alf tried to help her but she believed that he didn't love her any more. One night Ailsa was in the kitchen, drugged up on five-year-old anti-depressants, and sees a vision of Bobby appear from the fridge! The ghostly Bobby tells Ailsa that Alf really does love her, after which Ailsa admits that she has a problem and needs help.
The following year Summer Bay was hit by an earthquake. As Alf watched his store collapse around him he sufferered a major heart attack resulting in him needing open heart surgery.
Duncan had an accident on council lands which ended in him being in hospital for a long time. This angered Alf, and since then, he lost interest in the council.
Alf opened a business with Jesse McGregor, who was a crook in his younger days; they opened a bait store which they called 'Alf and Jesse's Baits and Bits Store'. However, the place was burnt down by a madman.
Despite his old fashioned ways, he is a good natured person who meant well. He was shocked when a female lifeguard was employed but accepted it.
Alf, became forgetful and short-tempered, wrongly accusing June and Colleen of stealing from the diner when in fact he had misplaced the money. Alf's behaviour became so much more erratic that Don phoned Morag to come and help with Alf. Alf found Morag nothing more than a nuisance and convinced Don to become his power of attorney.
The diagnosis was, that like his father, Alf was suffering from Alzheimers. Returning to the diner after VJ's 1st birthday party Alf saw Ailsa in the kitchen. Though Alf thought that Ailsa had returned from the dead, it was clear to everyone else that something was seriously wrong with Alf. Further tests showed the Alf wasn't actually suffering from Alzheimers and had a brain tumour. Despite pleas from his friends to have an operation Ailsa kept on convincing him not to have it.
After collapsing at a play in his honour Alf went under the knife. Whilst on the operating table Ailsa showed Alf what the bay would turn into without him around. As Alf flatlined, Ailsa gave Alf the choice of joining her in the afterlife, or returning to Summer Bay. As the surgeons called time on Alf's death his heart springed back to life. Alf was determined not to let his vision turn into reality.
Aftere a few months living with Don in his new home up in the Whitsunday's, Alf returned to the bay reinvigorated and started to make sure the events in his visions didn't come true. First of all he told Hayley what he had seen of her future with Josh West and she soon broke up with him. He was also worried about Seb, who was now in his care after he had decided to stay in Summer Bay after Don had left, was going to have an accident on Noah's motorcycle and did everything he could to ensure that Seb would not ride a bike.
Unfortunately some of the things in Alf's dream did come true. He had saw that Sally and Flynn had lost the baby in his dream, and sure enough, when he returned from the Whitsunday's, Sophie had miscarried Sally and Flynn's child, however her and Blake's survived.
Alf soon found new romance for the first time since Ailsa had died with Colleen's daughter, Maureen. After a comical first date in which they continously turned up in the wrong outfits, there relationship lasted a couple of weeks before they drifted apart and Maureen soon left the bay.
Alf worst fears almost came true when Seb was hurt by Kirsty and Kane took off on Noah's motorcycle. The police soon came a-knocking, asking Alf to identify Seb. However, Seb wasn't dead. Someone had stolen the bike off him, with all Seb's identification and had crashed fatally.
Alf continued his ownership of the boat throughout this, working with Scott and Kane. Unfortunately, on one trip two American tourists went missing when on a driving trip and they were thought to be dead. After Scott and Kane came back ashore they went looking for the the couple and found the man on the shore. A brief struggle ensued when the man tried to take them hostage.
Alf's son Duncan returned in 2004 and started causing chaos around the bay. First of all he got Jade hooked on drugs and then he drove a car off a cliff with Seb on the bonnet. Alf and Morag managed to get Duncan off the charges, however when Duncan got hold of Tasha's secret and blackmailed her into giving him the money to allow him to go to New York, Alf announced he no longer thought of Duncan as his son.
Alf sold his remaining half of his diner in 2004 to Irene, whom Tasha had bought if for, though Alf continued to live in The Diner flat and concentrated his efforts on his boat The Blaxland. He later wewnt into business with Beth Hunter by buying a halcf share in Noah's Bar.
When Dani Sutherland was convincted for the attempted murder of Kane Philips and sent to prison, she was befriended by 'The Guv' who seemed very interested in Summer Bay. It transpired that The Guv was actually Viv Standish, Alf's Stewart's very first girlfriend. Viv confided to Dani that she was dying and wwith the help of her botfriend Scott they managed to reaquaint her with Alf and she was released in order to spend her dying days with him in The Bay. Before she died though she told him that he was father to a son Owen Dalby and Alf very soon realised that his son was in fact the violent father of resident bad boy Eric Dalby, who Ric had accidentally killed. With Ric going on the run Alf was determined to find him and form a bond with his grandson. At first their relationship was strained and Ric decided to live with sally and Flynn rather than Alf but they eventually forged a relationship and became close.
Soon after, yet another Stewart was to be reunited with Alf when, on a regular trip to see his daughter Roo in New York, he met and became aquainted with his grand-daughter Martha whom Roo had given up for adoption eighteen years earlier. To Alf's delight Martha decided to follow him back to The Bay in order to meet her australian relatives.
When Alf turned sixty the residents of The Bay came together to organise a huge party for him with a number of familiar faces including his sisters Morag, Barbra and Celia, his son Duncan, foster children Sarah Thompson and Mitch McColl amongst others, returning for the big day. The party was a huge success with Sally delivering a rousing speech about 'Mr Stewart'.
Chloe Richards, back in The Bay to escape a violent boyfriend, gave Alf, Martha, Ric and Kim a lift home from the party but their car was forced off the road and they were all taken to hospital where Chloe died and Martha was left seemingly paralysed. A furious Alf went on the rampage in order to find the culprit and was horrified to discover it was in fact Jesse McGregor, spurned by Chloe, who had drank too much and accidentaly run them off the road. Alf refused to forgive Jesse, even though he handed himself into the police. Luckily Martha made a full recovery, evetually recovering the use of her legs.
When Josh West arrived back in town Alf was convinced he was bad news and the two quickly came head to head in the campaign to be Mayor. Unfortunately for Alf, Josh was willing to play dirty and set Alf up so it looked as if he had been taking bribes. Elected as Mayor, Josh wasted no time in putting his plans into action, Project 56, a bridge right through Summer Bay, would essentially decimate the town but Alf refused to go down without a fight, delivering a rousing speech about the 'spirit of summer bay'. Despite his and Morag's best efforts though and with a corrupt Judge overseeing his trial, Alf stood no chance in getting off the false charges and was sent straight to Prison. Whilst in there Alf managed to do good and tried to reach out to a fellow con but Alf was released and the guy he was trying to help was left inside. A free Alf was ridden with guilt about not being able to help the guy and for months after was a changed man. He was quiet, withdrawn, snappy and jumped at the slightest sound. Luckily he had several heart to hearts with his sister Morag and eventually came through the other side.
When Sally Fletcher's husband Flynn was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Alf was there to support her and her family, including grandson Ric. Before Flynn eventually passed away he shared a quiet moment with Alf, asking him to look after his family for him. Alf took him at his word, moving into the Caravan Par House to support Sally and he has lived there ever since, bringing together the two original characters under one roof.
Over the next year or so the majority of Alf's storylines revolved around his family, including the many trials of Ric and Martha being lost in The Bush in the aftermath of her failed wedding. When she was finally found safe and well Alf decided to fly personally to New York to deliver the news that she was safe. He was devastated when Sally was brutally stabbed by Rocco Cooper and was around to support his grandson Ric as he was wrongly imprisoned for Rocco's subsequent murder.
He received a phone call saying that his sister Celia had had a stroke so he flew once again to her aid. In his absence his granddaughter Martha fell off the rails after terminating a pregnancy by a man, Alf had disapproved of. alf was horrified to come home and find Martha living in The Diner flat and working as a Dancer in a Strip Club.
He caught Cassie twice in trysts with Jules and was there for Martha when she admitted her despair over her abortion.
His main story for the year came when Jack pulled him over for a routine breath test and discovered that his license had expired. When his family began nagging him to get it renewed he reluctantly admitted to Martha that he thought he was possibly going blind; that his father had had glaucoma and that it was hereditary. His family eventually convinced him to have tests but he failed to show for the first appointment despite being dropped off outside. When Ric convinced him to head in and apologise he was relieved to hear that his problem was only cataracts and that he only needed a small operation to fix things.
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