William Edward Aylett (1900 - 1976)

William Edward (Bill) Aylett was the sixth son of the twelve children of Harriett Susanna (née Matthews) and Edward Aylett ^[1].

He was of convict ancestry, his grandfather, William Aylett having been transported to Tasmania in 1845 for the theft of two beehives. Born at Wynyard in north-western Tasmania on 15 November 1900^[2], Bill Aylett was the sixth of twelve children of Edward Aylett, a farmer and furrier, and Harriett Susanna, née Matthews. In 1914 the Aylett family moved to Waratah, the centre for the Mount Bischoff Tin Mining Company, where Bill’s father managed a coffee palace. Bill attended school in Waratah, and from the age of sixteen worked at the tin mines, and on the osmiridium fields of western Tasmania. On 10 July 1920 he married Ruby Victoria Gladys Goldsmith at St George’s Church of England, Burnie. About this time, he worked as a driver in Wivenhoe, a small settlement near Burnie. After working as a miner and timber contractor for the state coalmine at Wonthaggi in Victoria, Aylett returned to Tasmania, establishing himself as a mail contractor at Deloraine. By the early thirties he was farming at Mole Creek. He would become a life member of the Mole Creek branch of the ALP ^[3].

He married Ruby Victoria Gladys Goldsmith in Burnie on 10 July 1920 (to 1963), and the couple had one son and a daughter together ^[1].

Bill died at Palm Beach on 10 August 1976^[4], his wife having predeceased him in 1963. His son survived him. One of Aylett’s brothers, Charley Bischoff (‘Tinny’) Aylett, was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly (1946–64) ^[3].

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Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Bill Aylett:
2. ↑ Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate: AYLETT, WILLIAM EDWARD (1900–1976) SENATOR FOR TASMANIA, 1938–65 (AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY):
4. ↑ Australia and New Zealand, Find A Grave Index, 1800s-Current