The battle of Messines fought on 7 June 1917 was the first large-scale action involving Australian troops in Belgium and it also marked the entry of the 3rd Division into a major battle.

Learn about the life and death of Private Walter Henry Chibnall in the First World War

Learn about the author of the poem, In Flanders Fields, which has endured as a symbol of the sacrifice of those who fought during the First World War and is particularly identified with the losses around the Ypres salient.

Learn about the life and death of Private Francis Joseph Mackey in WWI

Learn about the two large stone guardian lions from the Menin Gate, donated to the Australian War Memorial by the burgomaster of the Belgian city of Ypres in 1936. 

Learn about the The Menin Gate Memorial, recording the names of 55,000 'missing' soldiers in Belgium of WWI

Four experienced Australian divisions of I ANZAC Corps were part of the British 5th Army under Sir Hubert Gough. The general wanted to attack at Bullecourt to support an important offensive by the adjoining British 3rd Army to the north and the French Army further to the south.

At the beginning of 1917 victory seemed nowhere in sight. However for a while, from late February, hopes were lifted. Along the Somme front line and elsewhere, the Germans began to withdraw several kilometres to their newly-developed defensive zone which the British dubbed “the Hindenburg Line”.

One of the more significant contributions to the legend of the Light Horse comes from the literature of Ion Idriess. A prolific and well loved author, whose books sold in the millions, Idriess is perhaps most famous for his stories set in the outback and Northern Australia. The Desert Column is based on the diaries that he kept throughout the war.