Milestone for Kiah hall

Beryl McGovern, who now lives at Lochiel, was born in Kiah in 1938, the daughter and grand-daughter of dairy farmers, and attended school there before its closure in the early 1970s.  

Her grandmother played piano accordion at dances at the original Kiah hall, an old corrugated iron building that was eventually condemned and pulled down. 

Following years of fundraising by the Kiah community, a new hall was officially opened in 1957.

“It took five or six years,” Mrs McGovern said. “There were street stalls in Eden, raffles and a lot of donations.”

“The timber for the floor was donated by people from Narrabarba and cut at the mill in Eden, and most of the work was done by voluntary labour,” she said.

Two years after the hall opened, Beryl and her new husband Max held their wedding reception there, a grand affair to which about 120 guests attended.  

Mrs McGovern, 79, fondly remembers the lifestyle that created what she refers to as “wonderful days”.

Kiah hall was one of a number of halls across the Bega Valley to host weekly balls, replaced in later years by cabarets.   

“The men would congregat outside the hall in the carpark to have a drink, and then charge back in to claim their partners for a dance,” Mrs McGovern said.

Mrs McGovern said the “big flood” in 1971 changed Kiah forever. With the paddocks washed away and no feed, many dairy farmers quit the industry and, like her husband Max, found work in the timber industry. 

But while the dairy and timber industries have seen hard times, the spirit of the Kiah community has remained strong. 

Mrs McGovern will be one of a number of original landholder to attend the 60^th celebrations, and has been given the honour of cutting the anniversary cake by the event’s organising committee.

The celebration dance and supper will start at 7pm. There will be live music, spot dances, old time dances, a lucky door prize and raffles. 

Entry is $10 per head, which includes supper, with tickets now on sale at Eden Newsagency. BYO drinks.