It lies in Hawke's Bay Region, between Sherenden and Napier, in the Mangaone River valley, on the road to Patoka and Puketitiri.

[1] A fire station,[2] cemetery (beside the river bridge)[3] and a war memorial[4] are the only remaining public structures, but it once had several more and was home to the country's first Women's Institute, co-founded by Amy Hutchinson and Bessie Spencer.

In September 1861 Major George Stoddart Whitmore took 2,600 acres (1,100 ha) in the Mangaone valley,[11] initially as a Crown grant for his military service, in partnership with another soldier, Captain John McNeill.

[12] He was on the committee of Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society[13] and, shortly after his arrival, introduced rabbits,[14] brown quail,[15] blackberry, and gorse.

[17] Whitmore added pastoral licences bought from several neighbours, until he had about 110,000 acres (45,000 ha), stretching from the Kaweka Range, towards the coast.

[17] In retaliation for alleged stealing of his sheep, Whitmore, as commander of the Napier Military District Defence Force, attacked Pai Mārire at Omarunui in 1866, killing 21, or 23, wounding about 30 and taking 58 prisoners and went on to raid Ngāti Hineuru areas.

[17] In July and August 1868 he pursued Te Kooti inland from Poverty Bay and was promoted to colonel on 21 October 1868.

He was defeated by Tītokowaru at Moturoa on 7 November, but took Te Kooti's stronghold of Ngātapa on 5 January 1869 with great slaughter.

[34] Rissington had the first Women's Institute in the country, founded by Bessie Spencer,[35] on 27 January 1921[36] at Omatua lodge.

The lodge replaced the original Omatua Homestead built by Captain Anderson in 1861, damaged in the 1863 earthquake.