The Ovens River, a perennial river of the north-east Murray catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Alpine and Hume regions of the Australian state of Victoria.

Formed by the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river, the Ovens River rises in the Victorian Alps, at the settlement of Harrietville, sourced by runoff from high slopes located within the Alpine National Park and the Mount Buffalo National Park. The river flows generally north by west and is joined by eighteen tributaries including Morses Creek at Bright, the Buckland River at Porepunkah, the Buffalo River and then the King River at Wangaratta. The river descends 405 metres (1,329 ft) over its 191-kilometre (119 mi) course.^[4] The Great Alpine Road follows much of the course of the river in its upper reaches.^[4]

Hamilton Hume and William Hovell explored the area in 1824, naming the Ovens River in honour of Major John Ovens, the Secretary to Thomas Brisbane, the Colonial Governor of New South Wales.^[1]

In the Aboriginal Waywurru language, the river has two names: Burwang, with no clearly defined meaning;^[2] and Djerrang, meaning "leaf".^[2]

• Wangaratta
• Beechworth
• Everton
• Myrtleford
• Ovens
• Bright
• Wandiligong
• Harrietville
• Porepunkah

• List of rivers of Australia § Victoria
• Warby-Ovens National Park

• The Ovens River at Porepunkah
• Tobacco crops in the Ovens Valley
• The Ovens Valley, as seen from Mount Feathertop