Onus of Proof 'Ongoing'

Onus of Proof is a story of operational service that went unrecorded and unrecognised for more than 35 years, brought to light by one man's fight for justice and recognition of his past service and that of his Ship's Diving Team. Begun simply as a task of gathering information from service and medical records to lodge a claim with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, it became a struggle of major proportions due to the Royal Australian Navy's failure to properly record, retain and safeguard information they once held. It's a story he was forced to research, write about and tell, while receiving treatment for a disability. For had the Department of Repatriation in Western Australia been more accommodating in 1978 it's a struggle he might not have had to endure at all. But in the end he knew it was a story that had to be told. It is a facet of naval service that should be told. Of men drawn from different ranks, trades and vocations, who were thrown together for a short space of time to do a job. A job that few others could, or would do. As such it deserves its small place in naval history, to be recorded and not forgotten.