Success at last: Walkers on the twice-cancelled Table Top Mountain Charity Walk were invited to place a rock in a memorial cairn that commemorates Hamilton Hume and William Hovell’s trek through the area in 1824. Photos: Supplied.
It was a case of third time’s a charm for the Table Top Charity Walk held on Sunday (6 April), with organisers overwhelmed by the turnout and money raised.
More than 500 people took part in the six-kilometre round trip and raised $5000 for the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre Trust Inc, which was the charity chosen by property owner Roger Paterson in memory of his wife, Elizabeth, who lost her life to breast cancer in 2021.
Organiser Phil Rouvray, from the Rotary Club Albury North, said the weather for Sunday’s event was perfect for the walk, with two previous attempts in late 2024 foiled by bad weather.
“We are really pleased with the way things went this time,” Phil told Region.
“As long as it wasn’t wet, it was going to be good.
“We are disappointed that we lost the connection with the Hume and Hovell Bicentenary because it was all centred on that and would have been the grand finale of that week of celebrations in November.
“There were comments on Sunday, though, that it was the best-attended Hume and Hovell Commemoration event, just four months too late!
“The good thing was I don’t think we lost any participation from it being delayed; if anything, we probably got more people as there was a lot of publicity around the cancellations and a longer time frame for people to get organised.”
The memorial cairn on the peak of Table Top Mountain was filled almost to the brink by walkers who were invited to place a rock inside it as part of the charity walk. The event raised money for Albury Wodonga’s cancer centre and commemorated the 200th anniversary of the Hume and Hovell expedition.
Phil said there was a broad cross-section of the community at the walk, with participants ranging in age from five months to 85 years.
“The walkers came in all shapes and sizes and we had some people who ran it,” he said. ”There were children as young as four, who walked pretty well all of the way, and we even had a descendant of William Hovell travel from Tatura to do the walk with us.”
One such walker was Member for Albury Justin Clancy, who resides in nearby Bowna. He said there was a great sense of community on the day and a wonderful spirit of reflection.
“We were able to commemorate the 200 years since the first European footsteps, but we also remembered that there’s been thousands of years of footsteps preceding that in terms of our First Peoples,” he said.
“And as we reflected on that heritage, we also recognised our own footsteps and were reminded to walk gently on the land and hope that, in turn, our footsteps might guide future generations.”
Table Top Mountain features a group of three main peaks, emerging on the southern end of the Table Top Range. The actual Table Top peak is a flat plateau rising to 621 metres. The two other peaks are Pulpit Rock (602 m) and Loka Peak or Rock (666 m).
Walkers came from a broad cross-section of the community, said event organisers, with ages from five months to 85 years taking part in the six-kilometre trek.
Phil admits it was quite a process for him and the dozen or so volunteers of the club involved in planning and executing the walk.
“It went on four months longer than we anticipated and, speaking personally, I’m a person who runs on momentum and when I lose that momentum, I find it hard to get going again, but we got there in the end and what a finish,” he said.
Walkers who reached the lofty summit were invited to place a rock in the memorial cairn, which the club had helicoptered into place before the original November date.
The cairn, which includes a plaque in recognition of Hamilton Hume and William Hovell climbing the mountain on 14 November, 1824, is now about “four-fifths full”, with the remaining section to be topped up by future visitors.
There is no public access to Table Top Mountain, with entry only via guided tours. You can find out more about the walk by emailing [email protected] or contacting Phil Rouvray on 0428 216 595.
