It was represented by two Members of Parliament The 1870 electoral redistribution was undertaken by a parliamentary select committee based on population data from the 1867 New Zealand census.
[1] The Totara electorate covered the West Coast south of, but not including, Hokitika.
The southern boundary of the electorate met the Tasman Sea at Awarua Point.
[4] The first representative was George Henry Tribe, who was the successful candidate in the 1871 election.
[6] He was re-elected in the 1879 election and at the end of the parliamentary term in 1881, when the Totara electorate was abolished, Gisborne retired from Parliament to return to England following the death of his brother.