Esoteric Festival cancelled the night before it was set to start
The festival, held in regional Victoria, was in the midst of an appeal for several council approvals.
Esoteric, a festival set to take place on Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagik Land / Donald in regional Victoria this coming weekend, has overnight announced its cancellation right as punters were gathering outside to enter the event.
"We are utterly devastated to announce that Donald’s Esoteric Music Festival will not be going ahead this weekend," Esoteric shared via a post across its social channels yesterday evening.
"To say we are disappointed is an understatement – we are gutted. This is a devastating blow for all involved – from our patrons to the local businesses that have been planning for this all year. It is bureaucracy and politics gone mad," the post continued.
The festival has reportedly been embroiled in a lengthy conversation with Buloke Shire Council, who had previously granted the festival a five-year planning permit which expired after their event last year. A representative of Buloke Shire Council has told Mixmag ANZ that an application for a new ten-year permit was submitted in September 2024, with approval required to enable this year’s event to be held in Donald from 6 to 11 March 2025.
However, "insufficiencies relating to the provision and quality of required information resulted in two requests for further information made in October and again in December 2024. A satisfactory response to these requests was not received, which delayed the required referrals and public notice to occur," this same representative said.
At that time, Buloke Shire Council CEO, Wayne O’Toole shared "we have been working with the event organisers, consultants and various emergency services, since receiving the planning application last year. However, our officers are not satisfied that the health and safety concerns in relation to the safe running of the event have been met and are therefore recommending the planning permit application is refused”, he said.
“We understand the impact this decision will have on the event organisers, patrons and the local community, and acknowledge their disappointment but we are also committed to ensuring any event within the shire is safe and compliant”.
In a meeting earlier this week, it would appear that the desires of the local community outweighed Mr. O'Toole's recommendation, with a one-year planning permit being granted to Esoteric, with 47 conditions.
Though a planning permit was granted, the festival’s application for a Place of Public Entertainment (POPE-OP) was refused by the Council’s Municipal Building Surveyor on Tuesday, who cited 33 grounds of refusal. The POPE-OP is a requirement under the Building Act 1993. It is not a decision that can be overturned by councillors, with the municipal building surveyor who oversees this process being employed by the council and independent of it.
As a last resort, Esoteric organisers made an appeal to the State Building Surveyor, Steven Baxas, to intervene. This was however unsuccessful, and Esoteric's organisers were forced to start the postponement of the event the night before it was set to commence.
In their statement, Esoteric shared that this would mean postponement until 2026.
They also pointed to their history of invigorating regional Victoria's tourism economy and their history as reasons why the event should have gone ahead.
"Despite overwhelming evidence that the Esoteric Music Festival is safe and compliant to run, we have been left stunned by the decision of the Municipal Building Surveyor not to grant a POPE permit and will now have to postpone the festival until 2026," they said.
"Since 2017 this event has been a lifeline for Victoria’s regional tourism and live music scene, injecting more than $15 million into the local economy and supporting thousands of jobs in the Wimmera Mallee region," the statement continued.
The ABC reports that in the wake of this year's cancellation, Donald locals have been working to assist the few thousand people that had already arrived at Esoteric's gates. They say that "community members had been working to open up access to public toilet facilities attached to ovals and other local venues," for punters now without a place to stay.
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Jack Colquhoun is Mixmag ANZ's Managing Editor, find him on Instagram.
