"Dear Friends, At your request, I'd like this recording of my voice, so that when I am no longer with you in person, the tones you are now hearing may remind you that love and remembrance are more a matter of the spirit than of the bodily contact and presence. As I have drifted or struggled along through life, I have gradually acquired many things. Always I have greatly desired to be happy and to spread the same infection around me. This wish has been amply fulfilled. First, in a joyous fashion after the manner of the young, and later in an atmosphere of hope and serenity which I trust may remain with me 'til the end. Achievement was another aim with me from the beginning, and whatever effects my life attainment may have upon others, there has been a fair amount of personal satisfaction in my victories over circumstance." Thus begins Tilly Aston's recording 'With Love to My Niece", going on to read her poem 'Song of Old Age'. This recording was converted from a 78 acetate record and was originally recorded on 15th July 1937.1 audio recording of Tilly Astontilly aston, audio books

Various movies made by the RVIB and transferred on to digital media. These were created for raising awareness of the RVIB and to appeal for donations from the general public. Most are assumed to be from the 1940s. 1. Brief image of children at RVIB. Various girls knitting in the grounds of St Kilda road, with a quick cutaway to two babies in prams. In the middle of the girls is a globe with a rainbow style surround that reads "The sun will never set on our Empire / Because we have the will to win!" The Australia flag and Union Jack flutter above the words and in the middle is the AIF rising sun badge. There is a brief shot of uniformed girls holding up a rug. 2. Two men stand beside a Clarke and Smith talking book player. One man guides the other to the cartridge and to open the cartridge mailing container. 3. "The work and play of the babies and children give our supporters never ending interest and enthusiasm!" A boy weaving cane on to a timber frame, a girl reads her piano music as she plays, whilst another writes in Braille. 4. "This girl is studying for her leaving Certificate to enter the University for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts!" Phyllis Lawson at a typewriter, a classroom of students and a girl reading a book. 5. "Arithmetic and algebra sums are worked out by steel pins placed in octagonal holes." Students using a Taylor's Slate. 6. "Born into a world of darkness. They depend upon for the LIGHT! Through education, training, recreation." A teacher helps a girl read a raised map, a boy finds the South American landmass on the globe, and a boy feels his way around a toy galleon. 7. "You can quite understand why the School Inspector said the manual training and work of our pupils would do credit to a normal School!" A boy adjusts the rear wheels of a wooden model biplane and spins the propeller when done. 8. "Little fingers which are frequently stiff and clumsy through lack of training are guided into confidence and self help." Various children are shown weaving canework baskets or stringing beads, and a younger child creates plasticine models. 9. "Out of the Shadows of ignorance into the Sunshine" of Happy, useful Citizenship. With your help!" Two children make a bed in a dormitory, a girl brushes her teeth and washes and dries her hands in a dormitory bathroom, children eat with napkins tucked under their chins at tables covered in cloth and with flower centrepieces in a dining room, and girls in various costumes dance in the garden. 10. "They afford an object lesson on how to tackle and vanquish misfortune!" Four children row an adult on Albert Park Lake, children play on a swing carousel next to a building on which is painted 'Blind Babies Nursery', a boy winds up a train and places in on the track, and two children play with blocks. 11. "And now we come to our blind toddlers! Our Nursery School is the only one in the Southern Hemisphere!" Children play with dolls, a playhouse and a rocker swing. 12. "Only for your support their lives might have been pitiful tragedies!" Children cuddle or play with soft toys, rocker swing and playhouse whilst a younger child sits in a chair. 13. "All that sight means stimulates our minds to express the sympathy of our heart to them." Three girls sing their dolls to sleep as they cradle and rock them. 14. Outside of St Kilda Road building from various views. 15. "Our hostels for young blind." Raleigh Street hostel. 16. "The Lighthouse is the symbol of the Institute's activities. It spreads light through education and training into the lives of all eligible blind babies, children and adults of Victoria! A peep into our factories!" View of factory building, workers making millet brooms, weaving mats and basket weaving. 17. "Although our income totals 40,000 pounds annually the hand made articles of our sightless workers have to be sold at a heavy loss to compete with machine made goods! This loss, and the 10,000 pounds given annually in compassionate allowances to the adult blind to help them to support their wives and families can only be maintained by donations from Citizens!" Various workers making a range of brooms in the factory. 18. "All our blind adults live in their own homes. They receive 36,000 pounds annually, including nearly 10,000 pounds in compassionate allowances! We can NEVER THEREFORE BE SELF SUPPORTING." The range of goods produced by RVIB (baskets, mats, brooms and brushes) is shown hanging from the swing carousel in the children's playground. "Our blind workers can support their wives and families by constant employment only if Citizens ask Storekeepers for "BLIND INSTITUTE" goods. 19. A man adjusts the dampeners on a piano. "Please engage our expert blind piano tuners and repairers. They attend to more than 1000 pianos and pianolas every year!" A man puts in a row of dampeners and then tunes the piano. 20. "Our gymnasium, social, dancing, cricket and other forms of recreation give the sightless endless pleasure!" Male on a stationary bike, using a skipping rope, weightlifting and Greco-Roman wrestling in the gym, men playing cricket, people playing cards, a tile game, dominoes, checkers and a pinball game. 21. A girl using a wireless set. "For many years now we have given and maintained FREE wireless sets to all needy applicants throughout Victoria!" Girl puts on headphones and adjusts the dials. 22. " "TALKING BOOKS" have now been invented for the education and entertainment of the sightless. Literature of all kinds is thereby read to them by means of special records." A boy puts on headphones to listening to a recording. 23. Couples dance as the RVIB Orchestra plays on stage. Plates of cakes are passed around a table amongst tired dancers. The camera pans across the four piece orchestra (piano, saxophone, drummer and double bass). 24. "To lighten their darkness is a work of mercy! Please help us to give them The courage of usefulness, The privilege of work, The happiness of comradeship". 25. Various people at a meeting, one with a dog guide at his feet and some with dark glasses. Three men stand near a Clarke & Smith cartridge player talking. Two of them appeared earlier. 26. Women working in a room. A man gives dictation to a women, who is using possibly a Stainsby-Wayne embossed shorthand typewriter, a telephone operator connects calls, a man takes notes on a Stainsby-Wayne crab writer, a room full of people working, a metal device moves between two springs and two men work with timber. 27. RVIB sign, outside front of RVIB building and a group of adults sit on benches under the giant central trees, children have running races, children cheer and one receives a ribbon for her sash that is over her school uniform, a woman writes down the results, a man uses a device, various shots of children, games such as ball tossing, winding up string race, younger children have a running race holding hands with nursing staff. 28. "Melbourne, Blind Childrens' Annual Sports". Outside of RVIB building and sign, children compete in a variety of games as adults watch on. 29. "Melbourne, Swimming Under Handicap". Children walking along a street, past a Holden, to enter the City Baths. Inside they swim, learn to swim, jump and dive into the pool under the watchful gaze of a group of women. This portion of the film then is repeated in segments.1 colour video recordings with no soundroyal victorian institute for the blind, phyllis gration, rvib nursery, rvib school, rvib orchestra, braille equipment, braille music, recreation, fundraising, education, employment, buildings, raleigh street hostel, audio books

To encourage the development of audio books, a series of awards were established by the National Library of Australia in 1988, and sponsored by TDK from 1991 until their demise in 2000. Open to both commercial and non-commercial publishers, it aimed to recognise the quality achievements by individuals and publishing houses and to promote the inclusion of audio books into the mainstream market. In 1998 the winner of the Unabridged Non-Fiction Category was "Dreamtime Alice" by Louis Braille Books.1 x A3 sheetIllustration of seaside town by an unknown artist between header and recipient louis braille audio

In 1982, the Braille and Talking Book Library first set up a subsidiary company called 'Louis Braille Productions', which allowed the production of audio books to be considered as a separate legal entity. This was later changed to 'Louis Braille Books' and, around 1999, 'Louis Braille Audio', which more of a focus on commercial audio production. Increasing interest in audio books led to other print publishing houses and commercial audio book producers expanding their range, but also the closure of LBA in 2011 due to financial pressures. 2 CD with multiple documentslouis braille audio, corporation records

Around the Institute was a weekly program consisting of interviews around a specific topic, undertaken by host Corey Nassau. January 14: Future of audio books – Ed Gamble, Adaptive technology and keyboard training – Keith Fraser. royal victorian institute for the blind, radio shows