 She was educated in Melbourne until the family moved to Sale where she went to secondary school and then at the University of Melbourne.Clarke worked as a journalist at the Australian News and Information Bureau in Melbourne and Canberra, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the Press Gallery, Parliament House, Canberra, as journalist and editor for Maxwell Newton Publications and as Editor of Publications for the National Capital Development Commission.She has published numerous books about women in Australian history, with a particular interest in female journalists

Clarke is an honorary fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, fellow of the Federation of the Australian Historical Societies and awardee of a Medal of the Order of Australia for contributions to literature on Australian history.