Matilda Mary Devine (née Twiss, 8 September 1900 – 24 November 1970), also known as Tilly Devine, was an English Australian organised crime boss. She was involved in a wide range of activities, including sly-grog, razor gangs, and prostitution, and became a famous folk figure in Sydney during the interwar years.

Matilda Twiss was born to a bricklayer Edward Twiss and his wife Alice Twiss (née Tubb) at 57 Hollington Street, Camberwell, London in the United Kingdom. Her career in prostitution began when she was a teenager and continued after she was married. Tilly and many English women were usually found soliciting at night on the wide footpaths on The Strand. Between 1915 and 1919, Tilly spent time at Bow Street Court and Lock Up for prostitution, theft and assault.

Tilly married an Australian serviceman, James (Jim) Edward Joseph Devine, (born Brunswick, Victoria, 1892, died Heidelberg, Victoria, 18 August 1966), on 12 April 1917 at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Camberwell, London. Tilly claimed to be twenty-one years of age at the time of the marriage, though she was actually only sixteen. The couple had a daughter, Alice Teresa Devine, who was born prematurely at 57 Hollington Street on 8 March 1918. Alice died the following day in the presence of her maternal grandmother and namesake Alice Twiss.

When Jim returned to Australia, Tilly followed him back on the bride ship Waimana, arriving in Sydney on 13 January 1920. The couple supposedly also had a son who stayed in London and was brought up by her parents. Both Tilly and Jim Devine rapidly became prominent illegal narcotics dealers, brothel owners and crime gangs members in the Sydney criminal milieu.

Tilly Devine, known as the ‘Queen of Woolloomooloo’ ran a string of brothels centred around Darlinghurst and the Cross, and in particular, Palmer Street. Kate Leigh, known as the ‘Queen of Surry Hills’, was a sly grogger and fence for stolen property.

By 1925 Tilly was well known to police. In five years she had accumulated a long list of convictions; the numerous offences ranged from common prostitution to indecent language, offensive behaviour and assault. The police report is a snapshot of the life that Tilly was leading up to 1925, a life that involved working the streets at night, clashes with Police and lots of parties and heavy drinking.

Devine became infamous in Sydney, initially as a prostitute, then later as a brothel madam and organised crime entrepreneur. The NSW Vagrancy Act 1905 prohibited men from running brothels; it did nothing to stop women with criminal gangs' support and bribes to the police from running criminal enterprises. Historian Larry Writer has noted that the Devines ran diversified operations. Elite "call girls" were available for politicians, businessmen and overseas guests of significance, while "tenement girls" were young working-class women who resorted to casual prostitution to supplement their drug spending, clothing and meagre earnings during times of Australian criminal and narcotic culture, absence of a comprehensive welfare state and unemployment. Older female prostitutes, "boat girls", catered to itinerant sailors or working-class men. Devine does not seem to have run similar operations for the gay sex market during this time because she believed gays went to hell.

Devine's wealth was legendary, although it was all earned from crime. She owned much real estate in Sydney, many luxury cars, looted gold and diamond jewellery and travelled by ship in first class staterooms. Much of her wealth was also used to pay bribes to the police sectors, and fines for her criminal convictions that spanned fifty years. Devine faced numerous court summons and was convicted on 204 occasions during her long criminal career, and served many gaol sentences in New South Wales gaols, mainly for prostitution, violent assault, affray and attempted murder. She was known to the police to be of a violent nature and was known to use firearms.