The seeds of the Old Wesley Collegians Association were sown in 1882, following an annual football match between Old Boys and students at St Kilda Road that led to the idea of a formal society of alumni. Later that year OWCA had its first meeting, when a group of 82 former students and staff met at Gunslers Café on Collins Street.
Guests at the dinner elected to create a society to ‘foster the interests of the Collegians’ – and so, the OWCA was born.
Since then, the organisation has grown exponentially from a small group of Old Boys to a global alumni network with more than 22,000 members; one of the largest in Australia.
Our founding fathers could not have imagined the OWCA of today, with alumni from a diversity of genders, cultures and backgrounds connecting across multiple continents and generations.
Throughout its history, members of the OWCA have achieved extraordinary success, both as individuals and through partnerships with fellow Collegians.