 Detzner may have made attempts to reach West New Guinea , which was then neutral Dutch New Guinea , but his claims to have been the first outsider to enter the Papua New Guinea highlands can be discounted . In 1915 , and again in 1917 , Detzner and some of his men tried to escape along the coast in two canoes . In 1917 , they reached the vicinity of Friedrich @-@ Wilhelmshafen , which today is Madang . There lay anchored the Australian ship , HMAS Una , which earlier had been the German imperial yacht , the SMS Komet , designated for use by the German governor of the colony . The ship blocked any further travel , and ended any notions they had of a water escape to Dutch New Guinea . On this escape attempt , Detzner also learned the Australians had orders to shoot him on sight . He made one further attempt to escape overland to Dutch New Guinea , but had to be carried back suffering from an internal hemorrhage . He spent the remainder of the time investigating the island 's inhabitants and its flora and fauna , particularly in the Huon peninsula and Huon gulf . 
