Whakaari Te Rangi-takuku Mete-Kingi was "the son of a Māori elder and a Scottish mother, and a descendant of General Mete-Kingi Paetahi M.H.R., first Māori M.P. for Western Māori". He grew up in the Rangitikei and Wanganui River region. In 1932 he became involved in the Ranana development scheme along the Wanganui River and during the war was employed at the Native Department in Wanganui as a farm supervisor. He was elected chair of one of the early Māori land incorporations "to be freed from the Māori trustee in the Wanganui district" in 1955, and "took over leadership of the 12,000-acre Morikaunui Incorporation. In the early 1970s he was head of the largest Māori land incorporation in the country, the Atihau Clan. He was awarded the CBE and was proud of his ancestry, language and culture. He was one of the very few remaining gentlemen elders of his tribe who never deserted his dialect."
Biographical sources
- Newton, John. "First We’ll Buy Back the County, Then the City." Te Māori 5.5 (1973): 6-8
- “Dr. Whakaari Rangitakuku Metekingi C.B.E.” Tu Tangata 4 (Feb/Mar 1982): 37.
Non-fiction
- Farming of Māori Leasehold Land: Report of the Committee appointed to investigate problems associated with farming Māori Leasehold Land. Wellington, N.Z.: Dept. of Māori Affairs, 1978.
- Co-authors W. Te R. Mete-Kingi, A. E. Gibson, H. O. Bradley, and B. S. Robinson.
- "He Mihi/A Greeting." He Mapuna: A Source: Some Māori Perspectives. NZPC No. 14. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Kaunihera Whakakaupapa ma Aotearoa/New Zealand Planning Council. Dec 1979. 7. Rpt. in 1989.
- In Māori and English.
Papers/Presentations
- "Keynote Address." Nga Tumanako: Māori Land-Use National Conference. Takitimu Marae, Wairoa. 29 January- 1 February 1981. Ed. and intro. Ranginui Walker. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Centre for Continuing Education, U of Auckland, N.Z., 1981. 7-8.
Other
- Newton, John. "First we’ll buy back the county, then the city." Te Māori 5.5 (Oct 1973): 6-8.
- "Dr. Whakaari Rangitakuku Metekingi C.B.E." Tu Tangata 4 (Feb/Mar 1982): 37.