Page 20 - Luce 2012

Obituaries

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch AC DBE Melody Elizabeth Parker
8.2.1909 – 5.12.2012 13.12.1934 – 5.8.2012

The College joined with all Australians Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at
in marking the remarkable life of Dame birth , much of Melody Parker’s
Elisabeth Murdoch upon her death at younger years were spent in
103 years of age. It has been noted splints and confined to bed, with
that she was the greatest philanthropist her early schooling provided
of her generation, and was born in the by a private tutor. She entered
year that marked the passing of Victoria’s JCH in 1953 completing her BA
other great female philanthropist Janet, Lady Clarke. Janet Clarke with majors in Mathematics and
Hall is but one among an extraordinary variety and number of Japanese. She then worked at the
institutions and causes to have benefited from the generosity of College as Senior Librarian until
these two remarkable women. Dame Elisabeth gifted the College 1957.
its grand piano, and provided support for a range of College
projects, including the building fund that will provide additional After several years in the US with her husband, Melody
tutorial and music practice spaces. resumed her Japanese language studies at Swinburne Technical
College and then studied Japanese intensively at the Asahi
Although Dame Elisabeth did not attend Janet Clarke Hall, her Cultural Centre in Tokyo. Whilst there she connected with the
ties to the College were close as a regular attendee at dinners and Buddhist religion.
functions into her hundredth year. It was a relationship deepened
through family ties, as of her three daughters - Anne (Kantor, 1954) During the mid 1970s Melody’s father Tristan Buesst was
was a resident, while Helen (Handbury, 1947) was a non-resident approached by the College to help fund much needed building
student of the College. The College notes, with gratitude, the life- extensions . Recognising the support and encouragement the
long contribution of Dame Elisabeth to education, medicine, the College had given Melody in her time there he also established
arts, and the advancement of public life in and beyond the State the Melody Buesst Scholarship for Academic Achievement .
of Victoria. This scholarship, which is awarded annually ,now honours
her memory and the many and varied interests she pursued
throughout her life , driven by her curiosity about the world.

Dr Evelyn Billings AM
8.2.1918 – 16.2.2013

Dr Evelyn ‘Lyn’ Billings AM (Thomas
1937) died peacefully aged 95 on 16
February 2013, and was eulogised
internationally for her work in family
planning. Dr Billings had a long period
of residence in JCH while undertaking
her MBBS, and was Senior Student in
1941. She pursued the study of paediatrics with further study in
London, joining her husband John’s research team in 1965 as it
focused on finding reliable procedures for women to monitor
periods of fertility.

The resulting Billings Method, as co-authored with Ann Westmore
in 1980, has since been translated into 22 languages in seven
editions. The recipient of honorary doctorates from around
the world, in 1991 she and her husband were both made
members of the Order of Australia for their work on women’s
reproductive health. Lyn and her husband John were among 40
founding members inducted into the Pontifical Academy for Life
by Pope John Paul II in 1994. In 2002 they were jointly named
International Catholic Physicians of the Year by the International
Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, and in 2003 Lyn was
made a Dame Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great.

20 LUCE Number 11 2012