For two years Arthur Johnson has dedicated countless hours displaying signs in Griffith to encourage people to quit smoking.

The diagnosis means he is retiring from his bid to encourage people to quit smoking.

But Mr Johnson wants to pass the baton on to someone else.

He has asked members of the community to put their hand up and take his place.

“I went to the doctor's a couple times he was quite sure that I've got a couple of cancer spots,” he said.

“Now I decided to restrict my outdoor activity as much as possible, so therefore I decided to stop the anti-smoke campaign.”

Mr Johnson first started his anti-smoking campaign in Queensland after he was personally touched by cancer. “My uncle died at 46 from smoking too much,” he said.

"He did have a lot of stress and I think that's what made him smoke too much in the first place, but it doesn't alter the fact that he died at 46.”

Mr Johnson will do what it takes to try and ensure his legacy as the “anti-smoke man” lives on for years to come in Griffith.

“I'm a responsible person and I would like to know that somebody else is quite happy, willing and able to take my place in trying to warn people about tobacco,” he said.

“If you read all the stuff put out in the leaflets by the Department of Public Health, smoking affects so many parts of the body. I wanted to try and get someone else to do it and if they want to do it they would get the free signs from me, because what would I do with the signs anyway except burn them.”

His time in in Queensland as the anti-smoke man was prosperous but he said he took a lot of pride in the lives he’d changed down in Griffith.

“I think people got so used to seeing me out in the middle of Banna Avenue,” he said. “I can count at least nine people, maybe 10, who have said to me since I've been in Griffith that they've quit smoking because of the signs. Now that's not bad because it's only been about two years.”

If you are interested in filling his role, call him on 6962 3341.