A petition that was started on Wednesday by Matthew Irvine, from Bathurst in NSW, to award the Cross of Valour to the pair has reached more than 31,000 signatures. Mr Irvine, who runs a driver safety school and has previously worked at the Jenolan Caves in the NSW central tablelands, said he started the petition after following each development of the rescue mission closely. "Honestly, like most of Australia, we were hanging on for any bit of information, every bit of information, every news update," he told Fairfax Media on Friday. Australian Dr Richard Harris played a pivotal role in the extraordinary rescue mission. After calls to make the divers Australians of the Year, Mr Irvine said he believed a different kind of honour was more appropriate.

"I honestly love the fact people are talking about Australian of the Year, it's wonderful, very patriotic, but that is a different type of honour and we are talking about the civilian equivalent of the Victoria Cross," he said. "(The Cross of Valour represents) singular events, recognises a point in time, whether half an hour or week of action. It just feels right to me, I like the fact it's rarely given." Loading The CV is awarded to for "acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril" and is the highest decoration in the Australian honours system introduced in 1975. It has been described as a civilian version of the military Victoria Cross, and has only been awarded five times since its inception.

"If that cave doesn't qualify as extreme peril, nothing will. The fact a life was lost shows the extreme degree of peril," said Mr Irvine. Those awarded the Cross of Valour in the past include Senior Constable Timothy Britten and Richard Joyes in 2003, who both helped save a woman from a nightclub during the Bali bombings; and NSW Senior Constable Allan Sparkes in 1998 who saved a trapped child from drowning in a flooded stormwater pipe. Mr Irvine said he also started the petition because he had known of Dr Harris well before the Thai cave rescue effort. "I worked at Jenolan Caves for some time, I was the manager of Caves House. And while I was there I met Agnes [Milowka] in 2010 and she was a regular visitor to the cave, she was amazing," he said. Ms Milowka, a keen 29-year-old diver from Melbourne, died in an accident in Tank Cave near Mount Gambier in South Australia in February 2011.

Agnes Milowka died in a cave in South Australia in 2011. Dr Richard Harris, a friend, retrieved her body. Her body was found about 600 metres into what is considered Australia's longest underwater cave system. Dr Harris was one of the divers who had retrieved her body. "He was the one who got her out of there. Despite being her good friend, he went in and brought her home. It shows the selflessness of the man. So unassuming. I've never met him personally, but just knowing what he did for Agnes and as someone who got to know her, we were grateful he was able to do that for her family," said Mr Irvine. Loading Other international divers have started to return home after the rescue mission was completed earlier in the week.

One of the British divers, John Volanthen from Bristol, told reporters at the airport Dr Harris had been a key player in the operation, and had helped to calm the boys with his Aussie accent. “Dr Harris, he’s very good. He’s got a very good bedside manner, he’s got a very bouncy Australian accent and they seemed to find that quite relaxing and reassuring,” he said. It was revealed Dr Harris' father died while he was overseas helping to save the boys. He has attracted international attention after his presence was specifically requested by the British diving team for his skills in cave diving rescue and his expertise in hyperbaric medicine. His efforts and those of Mr Challen have been lauded by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull.