An opening ceremony for the high-profile community project on Sunday featured a brass band, sausage sizzle, and ribbon-cutting.

"We want to say thank you very much for helping us ... for giving us a new start to life," Anna Kovalenko from Kyiv said.

"We are very happy ... This place is an amazing place, and we feel that we are in safety."

Two Ukrainian families - comprising six adults and three children - will live in the home for the next six months.

The Old Molong Convent was built in 1937 to accommodate nuns for the the adjacent parish. It has been abandoned since 2017.

More than 100 volunteers from worked for about three months to give the site a complete makeover in 2022.

Walls were repainted, carpets were replaced, new appliances were installed, and every room was completely refurnished.

"We've had weekend working bees and about 50 people have come to each of these over two days," Project Manager David Cuming said.

"It's been important to the parish and the town because it's brought a new energy into the town.

"It's taken something that was useless, and made it into something that's not only going to benefit the Ukrainian families but there's been a lot of people coming together.

"The volunteer have formed long-time relationships. It's brought money into the town ... this project is not just for nine people today it's to go on in the future."

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