The earliest set of surviving OUMSA meeting minutes dates back to 1902.

In the early twentieth century, the Otago University Medical Students’ Association frequently found itself at odds with the Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA). A notable confrontation occurred in 1902, when medical students, led by their president Te Rangi Hīroa, who threatened to secede from OUSA over a dispute regarding election scheduling. Although the matter was ultimately resolved, it was one of several early episodes that underscored the medical students’ strong sense of collective identity and their occasional friction with the wider student body.

During this period, OUMSA also advocated for various academic and social issues. For example in 1908 OUMSA advocated for the introduction of ‘special exams’, exams for students who had failed their finals. The student body continued to engaged in efforts to secure better resources and facilities for medical students, sometimes with limited success. Yet they were successful in fostering a strong sense of community, from organising medical dinners to negotiating for library contributions.

As World War I approached, OUMSA’s records reflect a more sobering reality as students and staff began to serve overseas, marking a shift toward a new era of responsibility and sacrifice.

In 1968 marked the beginning of regular consultation with medical students about their own education and curriculum. This shift laid the groundwork for the kind of student involvement we see today, such as the fortnightly educational meetings that are now a routine part of the medical school’s dialogue with its students. In other words, the steps taken back in 1968 planted the seeds for the more structured, student-inclusive educational discussions that you experience now.

By 1969, this momentum led to the addition of five students to the medical faculty and the formation of the Student Curriculum Committee (the SSCC). Even before this, OUMSA had signalled its interest in the curriculum by creating an Education Committee under an intellectual affairs representative in late 1967.

In 1970, Sue Wilson, who chaired that committee and served on the SSCC, wrote in the student digest about “student power” at the Otago Medical School. She noted that while many medical students were traditionally expected to just absorb facts, others wanted to engage as mature members of the university community. She was also critical of students who demanded immediate changes to the curriculum for more patient access and responsibility, emphasising a balanced approach to student participation.

In essence, these steps in 1968 and 1969 paved the way for the collaborative, student-inclusive environment that continues today. It’s a legacy that transformed students from passive recipients into active participants in shaping their own medical education.

Early meeting records show that OUMSA was actively involved in discussions about teaching spaces and learning conditions, including classroom design and facilities. While seemingly minor, these debates reflected the association’s growing role in advocating for environments that supported the specific demands of medical education.

The origins of the OUMSA café date back to 1927, coinciding with the opening of the Lindo Ferguson Building, when dedicated facilities for medical students were formally established. From this point, a medical students’ canteen became a consistent feature of Otago Medical School life, evolving alongside the physical and social development of the campus.

By the 1940s, the canteen was located on the ground floor of the Lindo Ferguson Building, situated between the men’s and women’s common rooms.

Access was via the common rooms themselves, reflecting the gender-segregated student environment of the time. The canteen served primarily as a service area, with students queuing for refreshments before returning to their respective common rooms. Food was simple and shaped by wartime rationing, with staples including tea, biscuits, soup, scones, and, in its earlier years, cigarettes.

As its importance grew, the canteen became a significant operational undertaking for OUMSA. In 1944, the Association created a dedicated Canteen Controller role, reflecting the scale of its day-to-day management. Financial records reveal the café often operated on narrow margins; in one year, it began with £200 in cash while carrying £210 in debt. Despite this, by the 1960s the café had developed into a stable enterprise, achieving an annual turnover equivalent to approximately £9,000, and employing staff to support its operations.

The 1960s marked a period of transition. In 1962, male and female students were formally integrated into a shared “canteen common room,” mirroring wider social change within the university. Increasing student numbers toward the end of the decade placed pressure on existing facilities, prompting further expansion of student amenities.

In 1970, the café relocated to its final site within the Scott Building, occupying space formerly used as the medical library. There it continued to serve generations of students and staff, remaining a central social space within the medical school for several more decades.

After eight decades of continuous operation, the OUMSA café closed on 12 October 2007, following the opening of the Hunter Centre and the establishment of a university-run café. The new facilities removed the practical need for an independently operated student café, bringing an end to one of OUMSA’s longest-running services.

Across its eighty-year history, the OUMSA café was more than a place to eat. It functioned as a social anchor, a financial responsibility, and a vital part of everyday medical student life, highlighting OUMSA’s longstanding role in sustaining community, connection, and student wellbeing within the Otago Medical School.

Shown above are selected past covers of OUMSA-supported student publications. These covers reflect the changing character, humour, and priorities of medical students over time, and illustrate how student-led publications have long formed part of the social and cultural life of the Otago Medical School.