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Assyrians in New Zealand are New Zealanders of Assyrian descent or Assyrians who have New Zealand citizenship. The Assyrian community in New Zealand began in the 1990s when refugees from Iraq and Iran settled in the country.

The majority of Assyrian New Zealanders live in Auckland, in the suburbs of Manurewa and Papatoetoe. They have an Assyrian church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church. Wellington has a sizeable Assyrian population consisting of several hundred people. Smaller communities can be found in Miramar, Newtown, Strathmore, and in the Island Bay area.

History

In 2018, the Assyrian community of New Zealand unveiled a monument at Makara Cemetery in Wellington to immortalize the souls of the Assyrian martyrs in the WW1 Assyrian genocide.

The Holy Cross Primary School in Wellington began teaching about Assyrian New Year as a subject through the Intensive Oral Language Program, where students learn about Assyrian culture, language and heritage.

Religion

Majority of Assyrians in New Zealand adhere to churches of the Syriac Christian tradition. These churches include the: Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Demographics

According to the 2013 Census:

• 58.1% of Assyrians in New Zealand lived in the Wellington Basin
• The median age was 33.7 years
• 22.1 percent were born in New Zealand and 77.7 percent were born overseas.

The statistic of the number of Assyrians in New Zealand may be inaccurate as many Assyrians would identify as Iraqi or Middle Eastern before Assyrian when completing the Census.

References

1. "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Assyrian". Stats NZ. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
2. Wright, Tony. "Memorial unveiled for 'martyr' Kiwi WWI soldiers who fought against Armenian Genocide". Newshub. Archived from the original on November 25, 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
3. Yalda, Ashoor. "New Zealand Primary School Adds Assyrian New Year to Curriculum". AINA. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
4. "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Assyrian". Stats NZ. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2019.

External links

• Assyrian Church of the East Archdiocese of Australia, NZ and Lebanon
• Chaldean & Assyrian Catholic Diocese of Australia and NZ

v t e Assyrian people
Ethno-linguistic group(s) indigenous to the Middle East; also known as Syriac-Arameans or Chaldeans
Identity	Assyrian continuity Assyrian diaspora Terms for Syriac Christians	Assyrian flag Aramean-Syriac flag Chaldean flag
Syriac Christianity	West Syriac Rite Syriac Orthodox Church (518–) Syriac Catholic Church (1662–) Assyrian Evangelical Church (1870–) Assyrian Pentecostal Church (1940–) East Syriac Rite Chaldean Catholic Church (1552–) Assyrian Church of the East (1692–) Ancient Church of the East (1968–)
Neo-Aramaic dialects	Sureth Turoyo Bohtan Neo-Aramaic Hertevin Senaya Mlaḥsô Syriac script
Culture	Assyrian folk-pop music Music of Mesopotamia Syriac sacral music Folk dance Cuisine
History (including related contexts)	Ancient Assyria Early Assyrian period (2600–2025 BCE) Old Assyrian period (2025–1364 BCE) Middle Assyrian Empire (1363–912 BCE) Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–609 BCE) Post-imperial Assyria (609 BCE–240 CE) Ancient Mesopotamian religion Arameans Assyrian tribes Classical antiquity Seleucid Empire (312–63 BCE) Parthian Empire (247 BCE–224 CE) Osroene (132 BCE–244 CE) Syrian Wars (66 BCE–217 CE) Roman Syria (64 BCE–637 CE) Adiabene (15–116) Roman Assyria (116–118) Christianization (1st to 3rd c.) Nestorian schism (5th c.) Church of the East (410-1552) Asoristan (226–651) Byzantine–Sasanian Wars (502–628) Middle ages Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia (630s) Muslim conquest of Syria (630s) Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) Emirs of Mosul (905–1383) Buyid amirate (945–1055) Principality of Antioch (1098–1268) Ilkhanate (1258–1335) Jalayirid Sultanate (1335–1432) Qara Qoyunlu (1375–1468) Aq Qoyunlu (1453–1501) Modern era Safavid Empire (1508–55) Ottoman Empire (1555–1917) Schism of 1552 (16th c.) Massacres of Badr Khan (1840s) Massacres of Diyarbekir (1895) Rise of nationalism (19th c.) Adana massacre (1909) Assyrian genocide (1914–20) Independence movement (1919–) Simele massacre (1933) Post-Saddam Iraq (2003–) Genocide of Christians by ISIL (2014–)
By country	Homeland Settlements Iraq Nineveh Plains Qaraqosh Alqosh Tel Keppe Bartella Ankawa Shaqlawa Zakho Iran Urmia Salmas Sanandaj Syria Al-Hasakah Governorate Al-Hasakah Tell Tamer Qamishli Khabur Turkey Hakkari Diyarbakır Elazığ Mardin Province Mardin Mazıdağı Tur Abdin Diaspora Armenia Azerbaijan Australia Belgium Canada Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Israel Jordan Lebanon Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Palestine Russia Sweden United Kingdom United States Detroit
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v t e New Zealand people
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• Assyrian diaspora
• Ethnic groups in New Zealand