A Kiah girl at heart: Shirley's early life within the original Kiah Hall

Ms Rixon said her memories of growing up at the old Kiah Hall came flooding back as she stood on the grounds celebrating the new milestone in the Kiah Hall rebuild project.

"My grandparents Ruby and Billy Bobbin and my mother Doreen lived in the original Kiah Hall after it was condemned in the early '30s," she said.

Ms Rixon said the original hall stood where the current shelter built by Rotary stands today.

While looking around Ms Rixon pointed out that the dirt road used to be the old highway and she remembered with clear detail the structure of the hall she called home.

"Behind the tennis court there used to be a big orchard and where the Kiah RFS shed is now there was an old worn down shed," she said.

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Ms Rixon also recounted the times she had to stop playing on the road because she could hear oncoming traffic.

"You could hear the trucks changing gears in the distance and we knew we had to get off the road and take our cricket bats with us," she said.

Ms Rixon said her family had moved into the old Kiah Hall after losing their home in Nullica during the 1930s bushfires.

"I was born in Pambula 70 years ago and lived there from when I was born to when I was 13 years old," she said.

Ms Rixon said the building was knocked down in the 1960s, and her grandparents moved back to Nullica.

When the fires came through Ms Rixon said she had felt an immense amount of grief in seeing the loss her friends and community went through.

Three years on, Ms Rixon said she was emotional, proud and humbled by the Kiah community, seeing them come together to celebrate the rebuild and ultimately their perseverance.

"It's a very emotional moment to have to come to this stage in the rebuild project and having been part of the planning committee has been very precious to me."

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