Tilly Aston
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Matilda Ann Aston (December 11, 1873 - November, 1947), better known as Tilly Aston was a blind Australian writer and teacher, who founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, and later went on to establish the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, with herself as secretary.
Tilly was born in the town of Carisbrook, Victoria in 1873, one of eight children. Vision impaired from birth she had lost most of her sight by 7 years of age. By a chance meeting , she met Thomas James, a miner who had lost his sight in an industrial accident. He taught her to read braille and persuaded her to travel to Melbourne to further her education. After successfully matriculating, Tilly became the first blind Australian to go to a university. Unfortunately, the Arts Degree from University of Melbourne was beyond her grasp due to the lack of braille text books, and she was forced to discontinue her studies in the middle of her second year.
With the assistance of the Australian Natives Association Aston established the Victorian Association of Braille Writers in 1894. This organisation would eventually become the Victorian Braille Library. In 1895 a meeting called by Tilly Aston founded the Association for the Advancement of the Blind to fight for greater independence, social change and new laws for blind people. They quickly won voting rights for blind people; free postage for Braille material in 1899 (a world first for Australia); and transport concessions for the blind.
In 1913 Tilly Aston did teaching training to become head of the Victorian Education Department's School for the Blind. Her appointment was not without criticism from staff and officials and the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind because of her disability, but she proved a competent educator and administrator.
Aston had 8 volumes of verse published in Melbourne between 1901 and 1940, corresponded around the world using the Esperanto language, and twice received the King’s Medal for distinguished citizens service. The Memoirs of Tilly Aston : Australia's blind poet, author and philanthropist was published in 1946.
The Federal electorate Division of Aston in Melbourne's eastern suburbs is named after her.
