Daru
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.| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Torres Strait |
| Coordinates | 09°05′10″S 143°12′27″E |
| Area | 14.7 km2 (5.7 sq mi) |
| Length | 5.0 km (3.1 mi) |
| Width | 3.7 km (2.3 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 27 m (89 ft) |
| Highest point | unnamed |
| Country | |
Papua New Guinea | |
| Province |  Western Province (Papua New Guinea) |
| District | South Fly District |
| LLG | Daru Urban |
| Largest city | Daru (pop. 12879) |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 12879 (as of 2000) |
| Density | 876 /km2 (2,270 /sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | Kiwai |
- Airlines PNG has daily flights from the nation's capital, Port Moresby.
- From Australia. There is no commercial transport from Australia but it may be possible to persuade someone in the Torres Strait Islands to take you Daru by boat. You will, of course, need to have obtained a visa for PNG in advance. Torres Strait Islanders are allowed to travel into Papua New Guinea without documents as far as the 9 degrees South latitude line, just north of Daru, but that permission does not apply to anyone else.
