Bounded on the North and North East by the Waikanae and Turanganui rivers; on the South by the sea (Poverty Bay); on the South West by the Awapuni Lake, and a straight line from Te Kuwha to Te Wharau-a-Ruakore; and on the North West by a survey line to the Waikanae river, which line forms a part of the boundary of Matawhero No. 1.

The history of the first occupation of this place is very clearly related by the first claimants, Rutene Te Eke, Hare Wahie, Wi Pere, and others. It appears that the original proprietor (judging from the tradition given by the claimants and counter-claimants) was a chief named Kiwi Ruapani, who lived about 400 years ago. Little or nothing is known of the people who occupied the district for nearly 200 years after Ruapani. The next person who appears as chief proprietor is Te Nonoi, from whom all the present claimants and counter-claimants—233 in number—have traced their descent. Rutene and his people, in number forty-four, claim through Kahunoke, elder brother of Te Nonoi, and also from his sister, as is shown in the genealogical table. They base their claim also on occupancy of the land, which has not been proved beyond the fact that the Waikanae river was used by the whole of the tribe called Itangaamahaki for catching eels; and Te Wai-o-Hiharore, which is a mere water-hole inland of the beach, and which has been much disputed on all sides, is acknowledged to have been the fishing-ground of the tribe for generations past during war time, when food was difficult to be obtained. The men cast their nets into the sea, and made weirs for trapping eels in the stream Waikanae, while the women at low tide gathered pipis in the rivers.

From these facts, it is argued by Rutene, for the tribe, that these two blocks of land should form a tribal estate.

The history of the wars which were carried on by these people's forefathers, extending into the interior and as far as Opotiki, was minutely detailed by Wi Pere. It represented the society in the country at that time in a frightful state of anarchy and confusion. It is not necessary in these cases to dwell further on the wars of the district, and it is hardly necessary to say that the original cause of the quarrels was a woman.

Riparata has shown continuous occupation from the time of her ancestor Te Maanga, who was left in charge of the land after the "rahui" was put up at the mouth of the Waikanae river; her grandfather and father have exercised rights of ownership, and her people to this day continue to do so, their place of abode or " kainga " being contiguous to this place, and only separated from it by the stream, and a Crown Grant having been issued to her and her relations by the Commission Court for the block known as Waikanae proper.