Thames will be one of three New Zealand towns to showcase an international exhibition paying tribute to the sacrifice of 30 Anzac in the First World War.

The Women of Empire 1914-1918 exhibition showcases a collection of stories and costumes from the period, and will be on display at the Thames Memorial Civic Centre from November 16-26.

International exhibition ‘Women of Empire 1914-1918' will be on display at the Thames Memorial Civic Centre from November 16-26. Photo: WOE

This year the collection's custodians Fiona and Keith Baverstock have toured the exhibition across Australia, with 100,000 visitors attending the recent Adelaide Exhibition at the Royal Adelaide Show.

'The Women of Empire exhibition is said to be the only commemoration of women exhibition in the world,” says collection custodian Keith Baverstock.

'The collection has been well received and it is an honour to bring the female war heroes into the spotlight, not that they would have called themselves heroes.”

The women of the war years are largely forgotten or portrayed in movies as a side story or love interest before the fighting begins.

But during the wars, women with medical training joined the armed forces in Gallipoli, Egypt and the Western Front. Many also held roles as ambulance drivers, orderlies and motorcycle messengers.

The sacrifice of women who could not join their sisters-in-arms overseas and stayed in New Zealand should not be forgotten either. They tended farms, worked in factories, held families together and kept the home fires burning.

This exhibition will only be shown at three locations in New Zealand during the WW1 centenary commemorations this year: Waiouru, Thames and Nelson.

The Women of Empire 1914-18 exhibition is on display at the Thames Memorial Civic Centre from November 16-26. Tickets cost $10 and available from the Thames i-Site or online via Eventfinda.

For more information visit the Thames-Coromandel District Council's website at: www.tcdc.govt.nz/woe

Photo: WOE