Daru is the capital of the Western Province

Western Province (Papua New Guinea)

Western Province is a coastal province in southwestern Papua New Guinea, bordering the Indonesian province of Papua. The provincial capital is Daru, on the island of Daru. The largest town in the province is Tabubil...

 of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. The township is entirely located on an island

Daru Island

Daru Island is an island in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea, the town on the island goes by the same name and is the capital of the Province, housing the vast majority of its population of 20,524 . It is elliptical in shape, with dimensions of 5.0 by 3.7 km², 14.7 km² in area,...

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

Fly River

The Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...

 on the western side of the Gulf, just north of Torres Strait

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...

 and Far North Queensland

Far North Queensland

Far North Queensland, or FNQ, is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. The region, which contains a large section of the Tropical North Queensland area, stretches from the city of Cairns north to the Torres Strait...

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

Port Moresby

Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...

.

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

Kiwai Island is the largest island in the Fly River delta, Papua New Guinea. It is 59 km long along the northwest-southeast axis from Wamimuba Point in the northwest to the village of Saguane in the south, and up to 9 km wide, with an average width of 5.6 km. Its area is 359 km²...

 further northwest in the Fly River

Fly River

The Fly at , is the second longest river, after the Sepik, in Papua New Guinea. The Fly is the largest river in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, and overall ranks as the twenty-fifth largest river in the world by volume of discharge...

 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

Torres Strait

The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is approximately wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost continental extremity of the Australian state of Queensland...

. With the Kiwai colonisations, the main group of Hiamo people moved to Southern Torres Strait and settled the Muralag group.