By the end of August 1914, Maurice Goor, Hector Prud’homme and Lambert Jadot began organising Canadian charity for Belgium by creating L’Œuvre de Secours pour les Victimes de la Guerre en Belgique. This was part of a vast international movement of aid to Belgium that was set up in the early hours of the conflict. Although the ambitions of its administrators were rather modest, it quickly became popular with both the elites and the Canadian population in general. Throughout the war, however, L’Œuvre de Secours was marked by major changes.

In 1936, the Australian War Memorial acquired two stone lions that once guarded the Menin Gate entrance to the Belgian town of Ypres. The Memorial’s director, John Treloar, felt the Memorial had scored a “great scoop” because of their “historical value”. However, when the lions arrived in Canberra, it was apparent the damage they sustained during the war meant they would need to undergo some form of restoration. Unfortunately, little progress was made in this endeavour for several decades and the lions did not end up going on permanent display until 1991.