The Press newspaper reported then how Allanah, then 9, did an "amazing" job after she and her brother Ethan ran home to raise the alarm.
The children rang their grandmother in Queenstown, who called emergency services, and when a St John emergency operator rang the house, Allanah and her brother answered questions about what had happened.
The operator told the newspaper the children were "amazing in very distressing circumstances".
Hall said Allanah, who left the school last year, was noticeably at ease among adults, and stood out in his memory for her habit of addressing him and another teacher by their first names, but in a respectful way.
"She was a friendly and likeable character, and I enjoyed our conversations."
Ethan was a pupil at the school and well-established processes would be put in place to ensure he was well cared for when he returned.
The "upsetting and incredibly sad event" was having an impact on staff and current and former pupils and their parents, many of whom had contacted him in the past two days.
Pupils had been told that help was available if they needed it, and in his experience, "they are good at looking after and looking out for each other".
Allanah's parents lived in Queenstown and Glenorchy for about five years from 2001 before moving to Kaikoura to pursue farming.
But the family retained close ties to the Wakatipu and eventually moved back to the area.
Sarah Walker declined an interview, but the family paid tribute to Allanah in a death notice in the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
It described her as the "awesome and amazing daughter of Sarah and the late Brendon (Frog), loved crazy big sister of Ethan", and granddaughter of Rosemary and Wayne Hill, of Queenstown.
A service will be held for Allanah in Queenstown tomorrow afternoon.
One of the two people injured in the crash, a man in his 20s, remains in a serious condition in Dunedin Hospital.
Police say inquiries are continuing into the circumstances of the crash.
