Matilda Ann (Tilly) Aston

   Another name for Matilda was Tilly.

  General Notes:

More photographs and document images held - available on request. An internet search will reveal several references to Tilly.

Matilda Ann Aston, better known as "Tilly" Aston became blind at the a ge of six. She was one of the eight founding members of the "Association f or the Advancement of the Blind" She was also associated with the founding of the Braille Library of Victoria.

Tilly was accepted as a student of the Blind Institute at the age of 9 years and went on to matriculate at the age of 17 - the first blind student to matriculate.

Tilly joined the teaching staff of the institute - again a first - and continued to teach until ill health forced her retiremment in 1927.

A memorial cairn was erected in 1970 honouring Tilly and her work for the blind. The cairn is on the Pyreness Highway at Carisbrook, Victoria, Australia.

The Australian Federal Parliamentary Electorate of Aston is named after Tilly.

She was a published author and poet. Her work as a writer was recognised by a Commonwealth grant in 1935 and she was twice awarded the King's Medal for distinguished citizenship.

The 'Aston' rose was named after Tilly.

The Melbourne Kings Domain is part of the Domain Parklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south side of the Yarra River, that incorporates the Alexandra Gardens, Queen Victoria Gardens and the Royal Botanic Gardens. It contains an interactive sculpture consisting of three bronze bells commemorating the life of Tilly Aston, a blind disability activist who founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, and later went on to establish the Association for the Advancement of the Blind. On the sculpture there is an embedded image of Tilly Aston with text in embossed lettering and in braille. The memorial was created by Anton Hasell in 1999.

Her work as a writer was recognised by a Commonwealth grant in 1935 and she was twice awarded the King's Medal for distinguished citizenship.

A transcript of Tilly's Memoirs can be viewed here.

  Noted events in her life were:

• Registered Birth, 11 Dec 1873, Carisbrook, Vic., Australia. ¹⁹⁹

• Registered Death, 1 Nov 1947, Windsor, Nsw, Australia. ²⁰⁰

• Electoral Roll, 1903, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia. ²⁰¹

• Electoral Roll, 1909, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia. ²⁰²

• Electoral Roll, 1914, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia. ²⁰³

• Electoral Roll, 1919, Prahran, Vic., Australia. ²⁰⁴

• Electoral Roll, 1924, Prahran, Vic., Australia. ²⁰⁵

• Electoral Roll, 1931, Prahran, Vic., Australia. ²⁰⁶

• Who's Who Entry, 1947, Australia. ²⁰⁷

• Who's Who Entry, 1950, Australia. ²⁰⁸