Dr John Billings: When the Cork-born, Maynooth-educated Archbishop Daniel Mannix appointed Fr Maurice Catarinich as consultant at the Melbourne Catholic Marriage Guidance Bureau in 1953, he set in train a process which would positively affect the lives of millions of women.
Fr Catarinich engaged Dr John Billings to work with couples who had experienced unintended pregnancy while trying to use the rhythm method of contraception. One evening each week couples referred by Fr Catarinich were interviewed in his consulting rooms and Dr Billings began to develop what would become known around the world as the Billings method of natural contraception.
Dr Billings, later joined by his wife Evelyn, also a doctor, spent more than 50 years developing and promoting the Billings method to 50 million couples in 100 countries. Evelyn's book, The Billings Method, has been translated into 22 languages and sold more than a million copies.
Their work was driven by their devout Catholicism and their belief both in the sanctity of the family and the immorality of artificial contraception.
Evelyn believed the method would be best taught by women. Since the 1960s a network of instructors has been set up across the world, with Evelyn taking on a major campaigning role for their organisation, World Organisation of the Ovulation Method Billings (Woomb).
John James Billings was born in Melbourne in 1918 and was educated at Xavier College and the University of Melbourne. He served as a doctor with the Australian army in Papua New Guinea during the second World War. After the war he went to London on a fellowship to study neurology.
After returning to practice in his native city he later became the head of neurology at St Vincent's Hospital and, from the late 1960s until recent years, the hospital's consulting neurologist. All the while, he also continued his work on the Billings method.
The Billings method helps women identify their fertile and non-fertile states through natural signals conveyed by cervical mucus. The mucus helps sperm stay alive when secreted during fertile periods. Using Billings a woman learns to identify her peak days of fertility.
In trials where the method was correctly applied it was effective around 97 per cent of the time. This compares with figures of 98-99 per cent for condoms, the contraceptive pill and implanted devices.
"If a woman can be taught how to interpret these indications then she can define her infertile days with complete accuracy," Dr Billings claimed.
Though the link between mucus and conception had been noted long before Dr Billings's work, he struggled at first to have his theories accepted by family planning experts. Fathering nine children dented his credibility in some eyes.
However, the couple insisted they had no further children after their method was perfected, but said they would have had more if they could have afforded them.
Speaking in 2000, Evelyn suggested the method had long been used by tribal people in Africa. "It's really an ancient method that has been lost somewhere in time," she said. "It is basically a co-operation with nature and the physiology of women hasn't altered down the years so it's not that hard for people who have lost that knowledge to pick it up again."
Though the Billings method is indelibly associated with Catholicism, its greatest impact may prove to be in the developing world, particularly China, where it is used as a safe and cheap alternative to other contraception methods.
John and Evelyn Billings were initially approached by the Chinese government to take part in a training seminar programme in 1986.
After leading an Australian aid programme in Anhui province in 1995, the Billings method became a preferred technique. The couple subsequently visited China several times a year and helped train almost 50,000 Billings method teachers there.
In the developed world the method is increasingly being used by women with fertility problems rather than those seeking to avoid pregnancy. Three-quarters of women now using the Billings method in Australia are seeking to achieve pregnancy.
The couple believed that because their method relies on a woman's fertility cycle being followed by both partners, it could strengthen relationships and even encourage childbirth.
The method was sanctioned by the Vatican, and in 1969 Dr Billings received a papal knighthood for his work. In 1994 Evelyn was asked to advise Pope John Paul II on life and bioethics issues.
In 1991 Dr Billings was made a member of the Order of Australia, an award which accords recognition "for achievement or for meritorious service".
He is survived by his wife, eight of his nine children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
John Billings, born March 5th, 1918; died April 1st, 2007.