Tilly Aston founded the Association for the Advancement of the Blind (now Vision Australia) 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 and become head of the Victorian Education Department's School for the Blind, the first blind woman to do so. Her appointment was not without criticism from staff and officials of the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind because of her disability and she was required to "sever her connexion with the blind societies she had helped to found". She proved a competent educator and administrator, but her school years were not happy ones. She retired in 1925, after suffering a slight stroke, and received a small allowance in lieu of superannuation. Writing career Aston was also a prolific writer, particularly of poetry and prose sketches, though her writing was often interrupted by her teaching and other activities. In 1904, she won the Prahran City Council's competition for an original story. The Woolinappers, or Some Tales from the By-ways of Methodism was published in 1905, and several books followed after that. Her writings were also serialised in Victorian newspapers and, for 12 years, she edited and contributed to a braille magazine for Chinese mission schools, A Book of Opals. She had 8 volumes of verse published in Melbourne between 1901 and 1940, corresponded around the world using the Esperanto language, and wrote her memoirs which were published in 1946. She believed her book of verse, The Inner Garden, contained her best work. Awards 1935: Commonwealth grant King's Medal for distinguished citizen service (received twice) Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001) Works Poetry Maiden Verses (1901) The Austral Year (191-?) Singable Songs (1924) Songs of Light (1935) The Inner Garden (1940) Fiction The Woolinappers, or Some Tales from the By-ways of Methodism (1905) The Straight Goer (in Spectator, serialised from Sept 1908) Gold from Old Diggings (in Bendigo Advertiser, serialised from Aug 1937) Old Timers: Sketches and Word Pictures of the Old Pioneers (1938) Non-fiction The Memoirs of Tilly Aston: Australia's Blind Poet, Author and Philanthropist (1935) References Bibliography ACT Planning and Land Authority Street Names Search Adelaide, Debra (1988) Australian Women Writers: A Bibliographic Guide, London, Pandora Australian Women Biographical Entry