DESPITE being taken more than 100 years ago, the collection of photographs on display as part of the Remember Me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt collection at the Warwick Art Gallery, are a stunning snapshot of the men and the faces who served Australia and the Allied Forces in World War I.

However, as Australian War Memorial curator of photographs Jo Smedley said it was the story behind the photographs that gave the exhibition such broad appeal.

"The photos were taken by a French couple, Louis and Antoinette Thuillier, in their barn at Vignacourt in France during the Great War,” she said.

"Vignacourt was a staging post for Allied soldiers fighting the Germans and thousands came through the town to rest and recuperate, have a bath or just enjoy some downtime.

"Mr Thuillier was a businessman and set up a makeshift photographic studio, photographing hundreds of Australian and British soldiers.”

The negatives of this massive body of work went unseen for almost 100 years before being discovered in an attic of a farmhouse in Vignacourt.

Over 800 glass-plate negatives were generously donated to the Australian War Memorial by Kerry Stokes AC in 2012.

Ms Smedley said the exhibition was much more than just photographs.

"None of the negatives came with any identification so it's taking years of detective work and public appeal to get to the point that we've been able to identify 150 of these men,” she said.

"That's happened in a variety of ways, through our war memorial historian to members of the public coming forward to identify these men.

"Family members may have the original print or other photos and we then carefully set about being 100percent sure we can identify the subject of these photos.”

Ms Smedley said it was the war memorial team's job to thoroughly research and understand each photo.

"It's much more than a collection,” she said.

"The photos themselves are beautiful and emotional but once you start to identify the men in the photos, you start to expose layers and discover stories.

"It's quite possible that for some of these men, it was the last photo ever taken of them.”

Ms Smedley was preparing to address a crowd at the Warwick Art Gallery about the exhibition and said a curator tour could offer so much more insight into an exhibition.

"I'll be speaking about the history behind the photos, the process of developing them as well as the stories behind a few of my favourites,” she said.

"This exhibition is truly the legacy of these men and their stories and it's important we share that with the country they fought for.”

Warwick Art Gallery director Karina Devine said having a national exhibition of such significance was wonderful for the community.

"It's such an emotional exhibition,” she said.

"So many people have been really moved by it.

"I would love to have more of these men identified while it's here in Warwick, so we'd love to see as many people as possible come down and browse through these wonderful images.

"The photos are so expressive and so clear - beautiful works, and I love the artistry that's gone into to bringing them to life decades after they were taken.”

The Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt, a travelling exhibition from the Australian War Memorial will be on display at the Warwick Art Gallery until February 17.