In April 1861 it was reported that "the Government have recently laid out a new township named Maude, at Pimpampa, on the Lower Murrumbidgee". However the writer expressed doubts about the viability of the new settlement: "It is… very improbable that many buildings will ever be erected on the spot, as during a flood, or even when the river is very high, the spot can hardly be approached on account of the deep creeks which encircle it on both sides of the river".  During the past year the locality had been isolated by high waters for about six months, "and no one approached it unless obliged to do so by urgent necessity".