But within weeks of the conflict exploding, the small European nation dominated war news amid claims of German atrocities against civilians and Wagga residents raising money and sending clothing to Belgians in their desperate hour of need.

And over the course of the war thousands of Australian soldiers fought in Belgium.

The close ties will be remembered on November 5 when Belgium’s ambassador to Australia, Jean-Luc Bodson, opens a travelling exhibition at the Wagga library.

Called The Great War in Great Outlines, the exhibition tells the story of WWI on an international, Belgian and local level.