IS reminder of WWI sacrifice: PM

Ongoing war in the Middle East is a reminder of sacrifices made by Australia and its allies in World War I, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Unveiling memorial plaques at an RSL club in the township of Exeter in northern Tasmania on Saturday, Mr Abbott said the Islamic State and other groups threaten the settlement reached by Britain and France at the end of the Great War.

"So history has its echoes, sometimes horrible echoes, sometimes noble and laudable echoes," he told the small gathering.

"We should never forget the impact of the Great War on Australia and the wider world."

The plaques were sponsored by a federal grant made to each electorate ahead of the centenary of ANZAC.