What is perseverance?

Perseverance in Australian usage is the willingness to keep going through difficulty, hardship, or setback in pursuit of a worthy goal. It is celebrated in Australian sporting tradition, in the country's settlement and exploration history, in the response to drought and natural disaster, and in Indigenous Australians' continuing claims to land, language, and culture across more than 65,000 years.

Sporting perseverance is one of the most celebrated forms. The Australian cricket tradition of batting through difficult sessions (famously Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, and David Warner), the long-distance swimming tradition (from Dawn Fraser to Kieren Perkins to Ariarne Titmus), the marathon running and triathlon tradition, and the surf lifesaving and ultra-endurance running traditions all celebrate perseverance. The Australian Test cricket Boxing Day to New Year stretch, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in tough conditions, and the annual City2Surf in Sydney all show the cultural value placed on endurance.

Settlement and exploration perseverance is celebrated in Australian history. The First Fleet's 1788 voyage of 252 days from Portsmouth to Sydney Cove, the 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains by Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Wentworth, the 1860 to 1861 Burke and Wills expedition (which ended in tragedy but demonstrated extreme perseverance), the post-war construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme through 23 years and across many languages, and the rebuilding of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in 1974 all express the value.

Indigenous perseverance is perhaps the deepest Australian story. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have maintained culture, language, family connections, and claims to country across 65,000-plus years, including through more than two centuries of colonisation, dispossession, frontier violence, the Stolen Generations, and ongoing structural disadvantage. The 1992 Mabo decision, the 1993 Native Title Act, the 2008 National Apology, and the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart all represent milestones in a continuing Indigenous campaign for recognition. The defeat of the 2023 Voice referendum did not end this campaign, with treaty processes in several states, Reconciliation Action Plans across thousands of organisations, and continuing cultural and political activity all expressing perseverance.