 In 1919 , after an account of Detzner 's speech in Berlin to the Geographical Society was published in Australia , an angry Australian wrote anonymously to the editor of The Argus , a Melbourne newspaper , and described what he claimed were Detzner 's lies . " There was no mystery about the disappearance of Captain Detzner and his party " , he claimed . The writer attributed Detzner 's success at staying ahead of the Australians to the perfidy of the German missionaries , who had agreed to remain neutral and in return for such agreement were allowed to continue their mission work . Detzner was a civilian [ emphasis in the original ] surveyor , the writer claimed , not a soldier and he survived on mission station rations supplied by public subscription from the German plantation owners . Furthermore , this writer asserted , Detzner 's movements were so well known to the district officer at Morobe that he was prevented from escaping ; they could have shot him several times , but did not . The writer dismissed Detzner 's claims about Australian recruitment of the natives as " in keeping with his dozens of other lying statements in all cases endeavoring to belittle Englishmen or British officers , in every case pure fabrications and typical scurrilous Hun lies " . 
