Daru

For other uses, see Daru (disambiguation).

Daru
—  Town  —
Daru Location in Papua New Guinea
Coordinates: 9°05′S 143°12′E / 9.083°S 143.2°E / -9.083; 143.2Coordinates: 9°05′S 143°12′E / 9.083°S 143.2°E / -9.083; 143.2
Country	Papua New Guinea
Province	Western Province
District	South Fly District
LLG	Daru Urban
Established	1884
Elevation	10 ft (3 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	12,879
Time zone	AEST (UTC+10)

Papua New Guinea portal

Daru is the capital of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. 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. Daru has approximately the same population as Tabubil and is the second-largest southern coastal settlement in Papua New Guinea after Port Moresby.

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 further northwest in the Fly 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 Muralag group.