Daru is the capital of the

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

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

. The township is entirely located on an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

that goes by the same name, which is located near the mouth of the

Fly River The Fly River is the third longest river on the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik and Mamberamo, with a total length of . It is the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, an ...

on the western side of the Gulf, just north of

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

and

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns, Queensland, Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stret ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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

History

Galician-Portuguese explorer,

Luis Vaez de Torres Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

, in the 1600s visited the location of the current town.

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 Kiwai Island is the largest island in the Fly River delta, Papua New Guinea. It is one of the Torres Strait Islands. It is long along the northwest–southeast axis from Wamimuba Point in the northwest to the village of Saguane (Sanguane) in ...

some 60 km north-east in the

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

). However, the Kiwai settlement of Daru is fairly recent. The original inhabitants, the Hiamo, were Western-Central Torres Strait Islanders originally from

Yama Yama (), also known as Kāla and Dharmarāja, is the Hindu god of death and justice, responsible for the dispensation of law and punishment of sinners in his abode, Naraka. He is often identified with Dharmadeva, the personification of ''Dharm ...

in the

. 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 an archipelago 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 tot ...

Religion

Its

St. Louis de Montfort Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, SMM (; 31 January 1673 – 28 April 1716) was a French Catholic priest known for his influence on Catholic Mariology. He wrote a number of books that went on to become classic Catholic titles, including '' Secret ...

Co-Cathedral A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or ''cathedra'', with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances o ...

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 Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of Roman civilization * Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter ...

(renamed in 1987, originally Apostolic Prefecture of Daru since 1957, promoted diocese in 1966).

Transport

It is served by

Daru Airport Daru Airport is an airport serving Daru, the capital of the Western Province in Papua New Guinea. The airfield was constructed before or during World War II. During the war it was used as a refuelling stop by Allied fighter aircraft. The Austra ...

, a small airstrip.

Climate

Daru has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Am'') with heavy rainfall most of the year and low rainfall from July to October.

Notes and references