Development or transformation can be understood as an active process. The process has confronted and mobilised Maori people since our ancestors departed Hawai'iki to settle Aotearoa-New Zealand. In coming to understand the land the ancestors called ‘Aotearoa’, we changed. And as we changed, our internal and external symbionts and parasites also changed with us. Maori people have endured disease, climatic change, natural disasters, human made disasters, political disasters, economic disasters, educational disasters, and linguistic disasters for nearly two centuries. And as the indigenous people of Aotearoa we continue to be changed by and to change the prevailing assumptions on development (and sustainability) to become healthier and more imaginative people.