John Glassford, a visitor to Cootamundra from Griffith, brought the historic device with him in a trailer to help raise funds.

He is one of thousands of Rotarians world-wide who are working to make polio the second human disease (after smallpox) to be wiped off the face of the earth.

Mr Glassford, immediate past director general of Rotary district 9700, was joined by four members of Cootamundra Rotary at the markets in Fisher Park, where scores of visitors stopped by to learn about the current situation with polio and what Rotary is doing to end it.

"Rotary did a deal with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2017 whereby if it raises up to $150 million over three years, the amount raised will be matched 200 per cent by the foundation, making a total of $450 million," Mr Glassford said.

"The money will fund immunisation and surveillance to help countries around the world remain polio-free and to end it in the three countries where it is still present: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

"As well as helping people in these nations, it's in our own interests to see it eradicated because the virus is only a plane trip away, and the World Health Organisation has estimated it could infect 200,000 people within five years if it was allowed to get away again."

Visitors to the display at Fisher Park on Sunday included Lyn Angus, a retired nurse, who was intrigued to see the iron lung because she remembers nursing a polio survivor at Geelong Hospital in the 1960s.

"His breathing wasn't affected, but there were still dozens of iron lung machines in the hospital's storage room," Ms Angus said.

Tens of thousands of Australian children were stricken, and many crippled, in epidemics in the 1930s and 1950s.

The Griffith district where Mr Glassford lives, was one of the hardest hit.

Mr Glassford himself contracted polio, but early treatment by his mother, a nurse, meant he suffered almost no symptoms. Only now, in older age, he is feeling some effects, with little feeling in his legs when he wakes up.

Those who were not so lucky were paralysed, sometimes so severely that they could not breathe except with the aid of the iron lung, which some had to use for many years.

On Monday, the iron lung moved on to Young, with Cootamundra Rotarian Ray Luff joining others cycling from Cootamundra to Young, a distance of around 50km, to help with publicity there.

If anyone wants to donate they can send a cheque to Cootamundra Rotary Club at PO Box 260 or call Ray Luff on 0407 931 600.