This watch was used by Tilly Aston when she was a teacher at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind in Melbourne. Note the single hand and soldered raised bumps at each of the number. Braille was invented by Louis Braille in 1825. The Braille pocket watch appeared at the beginning of the 20th century.
This watch was donated to the Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society by Mrs Amelia Sinclair of Durham Ox.
Tilly Aston’s achievements are formidable. In 1894 she founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, which became the Victorian Braille Library. In 1895, she co-founded the Association for the Advancement of the Blind, which in became Vision Australia. As well as being the first woman who was blind to be admitted to an Australian university and Australia's first blind teacher, Tilly was a distinguished and critically acclaimed writer, producing seven books of verse. Tilly received a Commonwealth grant for her writing in 1935, and the King’s Medal for Distinguished Citizenry twice.