THIS month's Wentworth Tractor Rally pays tribute to the role the farm tractor played in keeping the town from destruction.

The residents of Wentworth need never fear their history will be forgotten.

Local historian, part-time tour guide and newspaper contributor Carmel Chapman is doing a stellar job of ensuring the community's historical markers are recorded for successive generations.

Chief among the town's talking points is the notorious 1956 deluge, when a giant flood threatened to wipe Wentworth off the map.

Wentworth is at the heart of the Murray Darling Basin, and for weeks on end waters from the Darling and its tributaries in the north, and the Murray and its feeders from the south, didn't stop coming.

Rather than evacuate, the town's men - many of them returned soldiers from World War II - used their Fergie tractors to build a levee ringing the town.

Over the subsequent weeks, many more volunteers rolled in from Mildura and surrounding areas to help keep the water at bay. The army and navy also provided back-up later.

"It was over two months of solid work, day in and day out," said Carmel, who has recorded the men's stories in her book, By God and By Fergie, We Beat the Flood.

"There was 130km of water surrounding the town.

"At first they started sandbagging the area, but then they realised that it would not last. So they used the surrounding clay on top of the sandbags, and compacted it to form a solid bank and it baked like an adobe brick wall."

Carmel said the tractors played a huge role in keeping the levee sturdy.

"The Fergie tractor was just perfect for the job, too, because they could ride them up to the top of the levee, to compact the clay," she said.

"If you had used a bulldozer to try and build the levee it would have just knocked the entire thing over."

Only one house was flooded inside the levee walls.

Such a momentous success has become local legend, and is celebrated every five years in July under the banner of the Great Wentworth Tractor Rally.

On July 22-24, enthusiasts from across Victoria, NSW and South Australia will pile on to their tractors and take over the town, including some of the men from the 1956 rescue effort.

Event organiser Cathryn Dawes said she expected more than 2000 people to attend the rally, with about 200 tractor rally participants confirmed so far.

This year's rally will include a fashion sale, a static display of tractors and steam engines at the Wentworth Wharf Lawns, a model paddle steamer display, and the usual show 'n' shine at Wentworth Wharf.

Cathryn said all 10 of the first places in this year's draw had been allocated to drivers from outside the region, with Lance Mason from Moutajup, north east of Hamilton, drawing the lead position.

Lance will be driving one of his 17 tractors, a Ferguson TEA 20 1955, which still has its original tyres and has only had one muffler replaced.

The first tractor rally was held in 1995 after Carmel convinced local authorities there should be some permanent way of remembering the role the tractors played in saving the town.

"It was coming up to the 50th anniversary of the floods and I thought there ought to be some way of commemorating the achievement," she said.

"They pointed out that traditionally you don't celebrate 55th anniversaries, but I was concerned that if we waited another 10 years some of the men involved in the effort may not be around."

Carmel also put a notice in the local community paper seeking personal accounts from the men involved.

She was surprised by how many men wrote in about their experiences, and has incorporated many of the firsthand stories into her book.

While she has no personal connection to the rescue effort of '56, Carmel said she was inspired by the stories her father would tell her about the town.

"I was just blown away by the fact that this town had saved itself by relying on its local knowledge," she said.

"Many of the women volunteered their time to ensure that everyone got fed, and the men from surrounding regions stayed in the town while they were working on the levee."

Many of the stories in the book point to the good-natured camaraderie that united the town at the time.

"Everyone pitched in," Carmel said.

"At one point, at the height of the floods, the publican of the Royal Hotel in Wentworth went for a walk outside to see if he could help anyone.

"He spoke to one of the men who said that he would love some tobacco, and was looking forward to retiring to the bar when it was all over.

"The publican made a joke that in the old days men used to ride their horses up to the bar and order a drink, so he could drive his tractor in if he wanted to.

"And that is exactly what he did. When it was all over, he rode his Fergie into the Royal George and placed his order."

Carmel said the rescue effort was a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, which was unlikely to occur again.

"Many people, including The Argus newspaper at the time, thought residents were foolish for staying and not evacuating," she said.

"This sort of thing wouldn't happen again.

"No one rang up Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra and asked for help.

"These days, they would say 'you can't do that', and the authorities would want to intervene."