All of Alf's childhood sweethearts

[Sally Keating]

I just thought I'd make a list and see if anyone can work out the chronology or how they all fit together. As far as I know there was:

Viv Standish (grandmother of Ric)

Julia Bowman (Meg's mum)

Mary Jackson (Quinn's mother)

And Martha Stewart - was it ever said exactly when he married her?

Then after Martha there was Tulip and then Ailsa.

Was there anyone else and what order were the first few in?

Trying to work it  out but I'm not very good at these things. Alf was 60 in 2005 meaning he was 43 in 1988. Roo was 16 in 1988 so Alf had married Martha at least 16 years prior, putting Alf at around 27 when Roo was born. When we meet Quinn in 1995, she's not much older than Roo would be, in fact she says she's still in college. This means Alf couldn't have been married to Martha for very long prior to becoming pregnant with Roo  (it may even have been a shotgun wedding) which means they weren't married for much longer than those 16/17 years. Unless Alf cheated on Martha with Mary? Someone else pick it up, my head hurts...

[Summer's Bay]

Tulip? when was she mentioned? If I recall correctly, when the series started, Alf and Ailsa were already dating.

So do we assume that Alf was dating Tulip while Ailsa was dating Donald?

[Sunny Girl]

I've never heard of Tulip either.

[Dan F]

Alf was around 18 when he last saw Viv (and fathered Owen who was born c.1964), they'd known each other since they were children.

Alf married Martha in April 1969. Roo was originally supposed to have been born around February 1971, but as with other birthdays it's always been a bit fluid.

They fudged up the year with Julia Bowman (nothing changes) as he was said to have partnered her to her Summer Bay graduation ball in 1970 (there was an age difference), where they were crowned king and queen.

Alf and Tulip were mid-1987 and before he met Ailsa (presumably only just before). Tulip died in the September.

[Marls]

45 minutes ago, Dan F said:

Alf was around 18 when he last saw Viv (and fathered Owen who was born c.1964), they'd known each other since they were children.

Alf married Martha in April 1969. Roo was originally supposed to have been born around February 1971, but as with other birthdays it's always been a bit fluid.

They fudged up the year with Julia Bowman (nothing changes) as he was said to have partnered her to her Summer Bay graduation ball in 1970 (there was an age difference), where they were crowned king and queen.

Alf and Tulip were mid-1987 and before he met Ailsa (presumably only just before). Tulip died in the September.

Would you happen to know where Mary Jackson fits into it?

[Summer's Bay]

1 hour ago, Dan F said:

Alf was around 18 when he last saw Viv (and fathered Owen who was born c.1964), they'd known each other since they were children.

Alf married Martha in April 1969. Roo was originally supposed to have been born around February 1971, but as with other birthdays it's always been a bit fluid.

They fudged up the year with Julia Bowman (nothing changes) as he was said to have partnered her to her Summer Bay graduation ball in 1970 (there was an age difference), where they were crowned king and queen.

Alf and Tulip were mid-1987 and before he met Ailsa (presumably only just before). Tulip died in the September.

Do we know how Tulip died?

[Dan F]

45 minutes ago, Marls said:

Would you happen to know where Mary Jackson fits into it?

Well whilst it wasn't said directly, Quinn implied she was around 20 years old in 1995, which obviously places her birth around 1974/1975 and completely mucks up the timeline with Martha/Roo.

13 minutes ago, Summer's Bay said:

Do we know how Tulip died?

She died of an overdose after Alf broke things off with her - it was officially declared as accidental, but Tulip's son Penn blamed Alf for it.

[Sally Keating]

I guess it's possible Alf cheated on Martha with Quinn's mother?

I know it wasn't stated on the show that he did, but nor was it denied. It was just kind of skirted around.

Ailsa says she is surprised that Alf had a relationship in his past that she knew nothing about. She knew all about Martha (obviously) and Alf never lied about Julia Bowman either. I guess it could be implied (at a stretch) that Alf had never talked about Quinn's mother because she was an affair while he was married  to Martha.

Thoughts Dan?

[Dan F]

Possible of course, but from the way Alf talked about it I do believe it was intended to be pre-Martha (even if the age doesn't line up, which as I say wasn't 100% confirmed anyway). I mean they met at a dance whilst Alf was working behind the bar at the local (Summer Bay) pub, danced together and a relationship developed - when Mary's commanding officer found out she was seeing a local boy, and "that it was serious" she was shipped straight back to the states. He wrote to her for months and eventually got a letter to say she was marrying someone else.

To me it didn't sound like an illicit affair they were trying to keep under wraps, Alf genuinely thought they might have had a future (he wondered whether her disappearing could have been because she didn't want to live with him in Oz).

[Summer's Bay]

24 minutes ago, Dan F said:

Well whilst it wasn't said directly, Quinn implied she was around 20 years old in 1995, which obviously places her birth around 1974/1975 and completely mucks up the timeline with Martha/Roo.

She died of an overdose after Alf broke things off with her - it was officially declared as accidental, but Tulip's son Penn blamed Alf for it.

Interesting thanks. No wonder I didn't remember it, it wasn't mentioned in the early years

Alf was quite the catch in his day