It was based on the town of Waitotara, and is north of the city of Wanganui.
Its original area was bounded by Egmont and Taranaki in the west, Waipa in the north, and Rangitikei in the east.
It bordered onto the South Taranaki Bight and went around the Wanganui electorate.
[4] In the 20th century the seat existed from 1978 to the introduction of MMP in 1996 and was represented by two National MPs.
At the 1996 election, the bulk of the Waitotara electorate was merged with Wanganui to create the new electorate of Whanganui, and Peter Gresham was defeated by the Wanganui incumbent, Jill Pettis of the Labour Party.