The 22-year-old left-hander wrote himself into the record books with a staggering innings of 239 on day two of the Plunket Shield match against Wellington at the University Oval.
When bad light stopped play, Otago was 487 for seven, in reply to Wellington's paltry first-innings offering of 112.
Rutherford resumed on 101 and had to stick it out early. He was struck twice by left-arm speedster Andy McKay but when the ball was pitched up he unleashed some devastating drives.
With the runs mounting, the records kept tumbling. He became only the ninth batsman to score a double century for Otago when he tucked a delivery off his hip down to the third man boundary for four.
Remarkably, Rutherford became the third member of his family to reach the milestone for Otago, joining his father, Ken, and uncle Ian.
Ken scored an undefeated 226 for Otago against India at Carisbrook in January 1990, and Ian scored 222 against Central Districts at Pukekura Park in March 1979.
Hamish eclipsed both those efforts.
Ken became somewhat of a folk hero in Otago for his dashing strokeplay and forged a useful international career, after a dreadful start.
While Hamish does not yet possess his father's wide array of shots, his cover and square drives come straight from the coaching manual and he is certainly not afraid to hitthe ball in the air.
He had a life on 152, when he was caught just in front of the sight screen off a no-ball from Luke Woodcock, and moments later, when a lofted drive eluded the fielder.
But some of the shots he hit down the ground were executed with a precision rarely seen and he displayed an enormous amount of discipline in a stay of more than eight hours.
He did not play the hook shot, barely pulled the ball or clipped deliveries off his pads too often.
In fact, the first ball he worked off his hip for a boundary was to raise his 200.
The celebration that followed was rather subdued. He looked exhausted, simply removed his helmet and raised both arms above his head in salute to the Otago dressing room.
It has been an incredible month. He replaced the captain, Aaron Redmond, in the team for the match against Northern Districts and scored back-to-back hundreds - a rare feat in itself.
His 216-run partnership with Derek de Boorder (92) was an Otago sixth-wicket record, eclipsing the previous mark set by Glenn Turner and Warren Lees of 165 against Wellington in 1975-76. He has the ground record, overtaking Peter Fulton's innings of 221 not out.
He is the ninth player to score a double-century for Otago and it is the seventh highest individual innings for the province. Only three batsmen - the incomparable Bert Sutcliffe, Roger Blunt and Matt Horne - have made higher scores.
He has scored 607 runs this month, which has to be some kind of record. Only Craig Cumming has scored more runs for Otago this season and Rutherford is only halfway through his fourth game.
His mammoth effort was still sinking in when he spoke to the Otago Daily Times shortly after stumps. He was unaware of most of the records approaching and had not had a chance to catch up with his father, who lives in South Africa.
"He is probably only just getting up and I won't phone him because it costs too much," Hamish joked.
"He'll probably give me a buzz later tonight. He'll just say you've still got another 30-odd hundreds to go, or something like that. But I'm sure he'll be pretty happy sitting back at home."
Ken scored 35 first-class hundreds, including 14 for Otago, so he still commands family bragging rights.
Overshadowed by Rutherford's effort was a brilliant innings from de Boorder, which ended when he was trapped lbw by McKay, for 92.
Otago's big scorers
Double and triple centuries
• Bert Sutcliffe 385 v Canterbury, Christchurch 1952-53
• Bert Sutcliffe 355 v Auckland, Dunedin 1949-50
• Roger Blunt 338* v Canterbury, Christchurch 1931-32
• Bert Sutcliffe 275 v Auckland, Auckland 1950-51
• Bert Sutcliffe 264 v Central Districts, Dunedin 1959-60
• Matt Horne 241 v Auckland, Auckland 1997-98
• Hamish Rutherford 239 v Wellington, Dunedin 2011-12
• Ken Rutherford 226* v India, Dunedin 1989-90
• Ian Rutherford 222 v Central Districts, New Plymouth 1978-79
• Neil Broom 203* v Northern Districts, Queenstown 2010-11
• John Reid 201 v Canterbury, Dunedin 1957-58
• Bert Sutcliffe 201 v Northern Districts, Hamilton 1960-61
• Robbie Lawson 200 v Central Districts, Napier 1995-96
