Daru is the capital of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea and a former Catholic bishopric. Daru town falls under the jurisdiction of

Daru Urban LLG Daru Urban LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. Wards *83. Daru Town See also *Daru Airport *Daru Island Daru Island is an island in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the Torres S ...

. The township is entirely located on an 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 Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Daru had a recorded population of 15,142 as of the 2011 census.

Population

The language of the Daru people is Kiwai (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

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

). 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 The Torres Strait Islands are a group of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. They span an area of , but their total land ...

Religion

Its

St. Louis de Montfort Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (31 January 1673 – 28 April 1716) was a French Roman Catholic priest and confessor. He was known in his time as a preacher and was made a missionary apostolic by Pope Clement XI. As well as preaching, Montfort ...

Co-Cathedralhttp://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 The Roman Catholic Diocese of Daru-Kiunga is a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Port Moresby. It was erected Prefecture Apostolic in 1959 and elevated to a diocese in 1966. The authors of the diocesan coat of arms are Slova ...

(renamed in 1987, originally

Apostolic Prefecture of Daru The Roman Catholic Diocese of Daru-Kiunga is a suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Port Moresby. It was erected Prefecture Apostolic in 1959 and elevated to a diocese in 1966. The authors of the diocesan coat of arms are Slova ...

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.

Notes and references

{{Authority control Populated places in the Western Province (Papua New Guinea) Populated places established in 1884 1884 establishments in Oceania