Daru is the capital of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea
The township is entirely located on an Daru Island that goes by the same name, which is located near the mouth of the Fly River on the western side of the Gulf, just north of Torres Strait and Far North Queensland in Australia. Daru had a recorded population of 15,142 as of the 2011 census.
History
Galician-Portuguese explorer, Luis Vaez de Torres, in the 1600s visited the location of the current town.
Population
The language of the Daru people is
Kiwai language (South-West Coastal Kiwai), also spoken on neighbouring mainland villages (the name
Kiwai comes from
Kiwai Island some 60 km north-east in the
Fly River River delta). However, the Kiwai settlement of Daru is fairly recent. The original inhabitants, the Hiamo, were Western-Central Torres Strait Islanders originally from Yama in the
Torres Strait. With the Kiwai colonisations, the main group of Hiamo people moved to Southern Torres Strait and settled the (Inner)
Muralag group.
Religion
Its St. Louis de Montfort
Co-Cathedral[http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/oceania/2929.htm GCatholic, with Google satellite map] is the 'second see' (and former 'full' cathedral) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Daru-Kiunga (renamed in 1987, originally Apostolic Prefecture of Daru since 1957, promoted diocese in 1966).
Transport
It is served by
Daru Airport, a small airstrip.
Climate
Daru has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen
Am) with heavy rainfall most of the year and low rainfall from July to October.
See also
Notes and references
