Police were called to the lake around 1.30pm on Friday when an alcohol-fuelled fight erupted amongst members of a family who had been drinking since about 7am.

United Brothers Australia Orange president Jarrod Murphy said members of his organisation – which has a focus on fundraising for needy children – were attacked with punches and bats, threatened with a knife, and had their motorbikes damaged when they intervened to protect nearby families from the escalating situation.

Despite the provocation, Mr Murphy said the motorcycling enthusiasts maintained their composure and acted in good faith to prevent the violence from spreading.

“We were just there having an Australia Day barbecue,” he explained.

“We heard a bit of a scuffle and there was two family members hitting each other.

“Then we noticed their dog latch on to one of them.”

Mr Murphy said when members of his club saw the animal become involved in the incident they yelled out to the brawlers to stop, at which point “one of their guys walked over and punched one of my guys”.

From there, the attacks on the United Brothers Australia members escalated to include baseball and cricket bats.

Mr Murphy said a man with a knife also threatened a nearby witness who was videoing the incident, so he and his club members tried to attract the man’s attention again.

As a result, the man pushed over two of the club’s member’s motorbikes, damaging a mirror, brakes and an indicator.

“We didn’t hit them at all,” Mr Murphy said, adding the members of the club were sober in accordance with a club rule which forbids drinking alcohol in public in the presence of children.  

“There is a big rule in our club that while we are wearing our colours in public there’s no physical violence at all.

“Two of our members were nearly stabbed.”

Sergeant Tony Borland from Canobolas Local Area Command said the motorcycle enthusiasts “defended themselves and acted quite appropriately in the circumstances”, confirming one of the males from the brawling group produced a knife, but it wasn’t used and was disposed of into the lake when police arrived at the scene.

He said three men were arrested at the scene and will appear in court to face charges including affray, being armed with intent and malicious damage, while “other persons who weren’t as intoxicated were ordered to move on and leave the recreation area” and will receive court attendance notices for a variety of charges including offensive conduct and/or behaviour and having dogs unrestrained at the lake.

All people who were charged will appear in Orange Local Court on March 12.

Sergeant Borland said while several witnesses had already been interviewed, investigations are ongoing and police would like to hear from others who witnessed the fight.

They would especially like to see any video footage that has not already been handed in as it could show angles and aspects of the incident not known at this point.

Aside from the affray at Lake Canobolas, sergeant Borland said police attended noise complaints for barbecues and Australia Day celebrations but generally people in Orange were well behaved on Friday.

Mr Murphy said he and his fellow club members were thankful for help from the public and grateful for support the group has since received online since the harrowing incident.