During the 1920s, doctors became increasingly involved in obstetrics and so aware of the limited specialised training available to them. In 1930 Dr Doris Gordon launched an appeal for funds to raise money for a professorship in obstetrics at Otago University, and the first specialised obstetrics teaching hospital was opened in Dunedin in 1938. However, the need for greater depth of knowledge continued to grow and in 1964 National Women’s Hospital opened in Auckland as an advanced facility to promote post-graduate obstetric and gynaecological research and training.