Ferdinand von Mueller

Telegram not found. The text given here is from a report headed 'The reported discovery of the North Pole', Sydney morning herald, 29 May 1895, p. 7. Since 29 May was a Wednesday, the item is dated to Tuesday 28 May.

That a German expedition had reached the North Pole was reported in the Deutsche Australische Post (Sydney) on 18 May 1895. Convinced that the report was authentic, M prepared an English translation that was published in the Argus, 23 May, p. 5, and elsewhere. Others were more sceptical, prompting M to seek confirmation from Wahrtreu, the editor of the Deutsche Australische Post (letter not found), who cabled Berlin and was informed that the story was a hoax. M’s admission that ‘for the first time in his life he ha[d] been cruelly deceived’, published in the Argus, 29 May 1895, p. 5, was widely disseminated. It came too late, however, to prevent the Australische Zeitung (Adelaide) from repeating the original story in its issue published on the same day, 29 May 1895, p. 6. Indeed, a letter dated 27 May from 'Von Wahrtreu. Editor Deutsche Australische Post' supporting the authenticity of the account was published in Sydney morning herald , 31 May 1895, p. 6.

Sigmund von Wahtreu has not been unambiguously identified.