Tilly Aston—Australia’s First Blind Teacher, Poet & Visionary
A story of courage and victory over circumstance

Matilda Ann Aston, Good as Gold
Born in 1873 in the Victorian gold mining town of Carisbrook, Matilda Anne was the youngest of Edward and Ann Aston’s eight children. As a young child, her family were not deterred by the fact that their dear Tilly was blind in one eye. Her parents were keen to educate their daughter, her father reciting rhymes and times tables and English stories as she sat close to his boot-maker’s bench, while her mother sang songs from folklore. By six, she had learned to read from giant typed books and could recite her favourite poems. As a seeker of freedom, Tilly often roamed with her siblings, climbing trees and playing among the Australian bush beyond the local creek. These hazy landscapes later became the source of her descriptive poetry as she drew on impressions from childhood.Change at Tilly’s Fingertips
Just before her seventh birthday, Tilly noticed a foggy mist beginning to blanket her world. The mist turned to a dense twilight making everything hard to distinguish and, before long, a total eclipse of sight plunged Tilly into perpetual blindness. Yet the young Tilly remained positive in the face of her mother’s anguish, relying on her vivid memory and imagination to feed her vision. In 1882, after the sad death of her father, Tilly’s mother made the decision to travel by train to the city of Melbourne with her blind daughter. The nine year old was enrolled as a boarder and pupil at ‘The Asylum and School for the Blind’. This was the beginning of a new and exciting phase for the young girl, who saw the move to the city as an exciting adventure full of opportunity. She was a keen student, learning how to read and write in braille, making great advancements in her studies of literature, music, and developing a love for handicrafts.Reaching for Ambitious Dreams
As she matured, so did her desire to carve out a career as an independent blind woman working among a sighted community, even though her vision to attain her goal was seen as a far-fetched dream in the late nineteenth century. Greatly encouraged by the school and with tenacity of spirit, Tilly persisted with her studies. She became the first blind woman in Australia to complete her senior school certificate, enabling her to qualify for University entry. But the path ahead still presented many obstacles. Her education required special Braille textbooks and private tutors, which was an expense her family couldn’t afford. So a fund-raising concert was arranged and money pledged to help Tilly accomplish her University degree. She pushed steadily onwards, concentrating on the goal of obtaining an Arts degree. Tilly took Braille notes while her tutors read the books required to pass her exams. But, two years into her degree, she experienced the bitterness of failure when she had to withdraw from her studies due to the stress she was facing with a lack of braille textbooks. To a vibrant and independent Miss Aston, this was a terrible blow for her future plans.Tilly’s Vision: First Braille Library of Victoria

Helen Keller, a Sincere Friend
Tilly’s challenge was not so much her own blindness but the attitudes of the old Victorian society she lived in. One acquaintance who became a loyal and sincere friend was Helen Keller, the legendary deaf-blind American woman who also stood for equality in women’s civil rights. One can only imagine the deep sense of support and encouragement these two remarkable women were able to exchange through the writing of Braille letters across continents.
All Equal in the Language of Hope
Tilly was constantly seeking ways to gain knowledge from across the ocean and set about teaching herself how to read and write Esperanto, a new and controversial language being taught in Europe. Through a system of words taken from several languages, the international language of Esperanto, though not popular with many, became Tilly’s link to a worldwide web of knowledge, which enabled her to be at the forefront of activities helping the blind community overseas, exchanging information with a renewed alliance of contacts. In 1895, Miss Aston and a group of seven blind friends decided to create an official organisation they called ‘The Association for the Advancement of the Blind’ (AAB), which later became Vision Australia. Tilly worked tirelessly, leading the advocacy group who were successful in obtaining voting rights for the blind, free postage for bulky Braille books and reduced travel costs on public trains, first in Victoria and, later, throughout Australia.Trial and Heartache as the First Australian Blind Teacher

The Light Finally Shines

Further Resources
- To view a video where relatives and historians touch upon Tilly Aston’s accomplishments, please use this link to listen to her story. It also includes other photographic images: www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/the-girl-from-carisbrook/11398/tilly-aston/
- For newspaper articles and more information: www.tillyaston.org.au
- Tilly Aston, ‘Australia’s Helen Keller’: www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0416b.htm