 The Rufus River is a small tributary which runs into the Murray River near Lake Victoria, New South Wales, very close to both the current borders with Victoria to the south and South Australia to the west, in the area known as the Central Murray region.The local Maraura people probably had their first encounter with Europeans when Charles Sturt travelled down the river in 1830.There is no record of other Europeans in the region until the overland stock route was opened between Sydney and Adelaide in 1838, and Joseph Hawdon and Charles Bonney made the first trip, taking 335 cattle to the Adelaide market.