March 24, 2025
A five-day electronic music festival at Easter – refused a permit by the Southern Downs Regional Council – will be going ahead in the South Burnett after the local council found organisers had “ticked all the boxes”.
The Rabbits Eat Lettuce (REL) music and arts festival will be held at Crystal Springs, a private bush camping area and cattle property on Stonelands Road at Stonelands, from April 17-21.
The property, north of Hivesville, is accessed via a gravel road.
The event was moved from Cherrabah Resort – where it has been held several times in the past – at the last minute after organisers were refused an application to expand the event.
South Burnett Regional Council granted REL organisers a temporary event permit late last week.
Mayor Kathy Duff told southburnett.com.au the application did not have to come before Council.
“It was operational. It is just a temporary event and it ticks all the boxes for a temporary event, so staff just approved it,” Mayor Duff said.
“There’s no reason why we wouldn’t hold it because they’ve ticked all the boxes. They’ve got security, police involved and they’ve given us a deposit – I think it’s $20,000.
“And they’re getting a temporary permit to do work on the road.
“They’re very organised. They’re very professional.”
Mayor Duff said there were many conditions to the approval, including noise limits after 10:00pm.
“I just hope it’s a safe event and brings economic benefit to our region,” Mayor Duff said.
This is the 16th Rabbits Eat Lettuce festival – billed as a place of “Freedom, Love and Dance Music” – to be organised.
It has grown from small beginnings as “a tribal Easter party” on the NSW north coast to a large event which can attract up to 5000 people.
Organisers expect several thousand people to attend the Stonelands venue.
There will be also be more than 80 techno musicians and DJs performing (if you don’t know what type of music jump-up, neurofunk, deep house or progressive psychedelic trance is, this probably isn’t the gig for you!) across several stages.
There’ll also be yoga and massage workshops and market stalls.
Rabbits Eat Lettuce hit the headlines last year when it was the first multi-day music festival to offer pill-testing to participants.
Sadly, it also made news for all the wrong reasons in 2019 when two attendees were found dead in their tents.
The Coroner found the pair had traces of multiple drugs in their bodies, including ecstasy, codeine, ketamine, temazepam, methylamphetamine and metabolites of heroin and cocaine.
The organisers of the Stonelands festival have stressed to participants that there must be no fires, no glass, no anti-social behaviour and no illegal substances.
