In June 1866 the New South Wales Department of Lands formally declared “portions of Crown Lands” to be set apart as a site for the town of Wilcannia. Despite the official proclamation the older name for the settlement persisted. In March 1867 “the township of Mount Murchison” was described as a place “fast springing into importance, owing to the splendid country surrounding it, and which is fast being taken up for pastoral pursuits”. The correspondent from the town declared: “We have public houses, stores, butchers' shops, boarding houses, a cordial manufactory in full operation, and a colonial ale brewery in course of erection”.