As we approach this centenary the Australian War Memorial, the nation's home of military history, is planning a range of events to help Australians look back on one of its most significant conflicts: the First World War.

In March the memorial will host some of the world's pre-eminent First World War historians at an international conference to commemorate the centenary.

Speakers at the conference will share their expertise and knowledge across a wide range of disciplines and technical fields, including history, art, battlefield archaeology, marine exploration, material culture and even music.

"This conference will place Gallipoli in its global context. For Australians who can't get to Gallipoli itself, this will be a memorable way to mark this important national event," ANU historian Joan Beaumont says.

Following the conference, in the weeks leading up to Anzac Day, images from the memorial's rich archive will be projected onto the front of the building. The day itself will feature the traditional Dawn Service and National Ceremony that the public can attend.

The Last Post Ceremony, held at the memorial daily, will feature on Anzac Day a personal story from an Australian soldier involved in the landing at Gallipoli, and, inspired by the spirit of camaraderie displayed by our diggers at the time, the story of a young Turkish soldier will also be told and his image displayed.

Then there is the memorial's most impressive contribution to Australia's Anzac centenary commemorations – the newly opened First World War Galleries containing the exhibition Australia in the Great War.

Occupying the entire west wing of the memorial's ground level and showcasing more than 2000 artefacts, this permanent exhibition is one of the most significant in the world.

"The Australian War Memorial holds the greatest collection of objects from the First World War relating to the Australian experience," head of exhibitions Katherine McMahon says.

"We have an incredibly fine and diverse collection, so I think it's very important at this time when we're looking at the centenary of the First World War to makes those objects available and their stories known to anybody who wants to come here."

"I always say that Australia's experience in the First World War is the big story with all the elements – drama, life, death and all the consequences," senior historian and curator Peter Burness adds.

"It's the big story in Australia's history – it's just inescapable."

Australia in the Great War tells this story through a unique collection of artefacts that include technology, uniforms, medals, photographs, film and personal items such as letters and diaries.

Burness explains that many items come from the memorial's extensive existing collection and others have been acquired especially for the exhibition by the memorial's staff.

One of the aquired items is, incredibly, part of a tank that was sent into battle with Australian troops in France in 1917.

"We deliberately set out and acquired some of the wreckage – that's all it is at first glance, large, heavy scrap metal – of one of the 11 British tanks that were supposed to lead the Australians into the Battle of Bullecourt on April 11, 1917," Burness says.

"This is the wreckage of one of those tanks that stayed buried on that battlefield until just a few years ago… The fact that anything survived at all is remarkable, let alone being dug up so many years later. It's a real piece of battlefield archaeology."

Among the impressive collection of tanks, trucks, artillery, uniforms and the incredibly detailed dioramas that the memorial is known for, you can find smaller, more intimate artefacts that show a different side to the war.

"We've made quite an effort to delve down to the level of the ordinary soldier or nurse and their experiences and how they were affected by the war, or how, in a couple of cases, mothers experienced losing sons," Burness says.

When it comes to the immediate legacy of the war, the exhibition examines the building of memorials and the creation of war cemeteries, but also personal stories that cover the repatriation of soldiers.

"We also look at reconstructive surgery, because so many that did survive had significant injuries, so we look at the impact on people who suffered that and how their lives were altered," McMahon says.

McMahon says that this exhibition will be around for many years to come, displaying these significant artefacts and telling the stories of the war just as the War Memorial's founders envisioned so many years ago.

"The idea of having an Australian War Memorial, the idea of the institution here, was actually conceived during the First World War, and a lot of the objects that people will see on display in these galleries were purposely collected by CEW Bean during that conflict so that they could be displayed," she says.

"They are here so that today, 100 years later, everyone in Australia can see them and learn from them and understand what it was like."