Benalla's Costume and Kelly Museum welcomed Melbourne military historian Rod Wilson as a special guest last week.
Mr Wilson was in town to take a look at the museum's unique World War I display, which features a range of gas masks.
The collection, which is on loan from the Say family, includes a rare Black Veil gas mask.
Beautiful collection on show
The Black Veil was made of one metre of black veiling with a pocket of cotton to place over the wearer’s mouth.
This mask was issued to British troops in May 1915 after the first gas attack by German troops a month earlier.
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The mask was soaked in a solution of sodium hyposulphate, sodium carbonate, glycerine and water and proved effective against chlorine gas for about five minutes.
By early July, most troops had been issued with the new Hypo helmet mask, relegating the Black Veil to the role of emergency back-up.