This man has a weird but completely necessary message ahead of Australia Day

"Happy Australia Day, and try not to punch anyone in the head!"

That's the unusual, but strangely necessary message being promoted after a series of assaults in Brisbane.

Graphic artist Nick Lawler felt obliged to act with his pen after noticing the "punch attacks" were becoming more frequent, crafting this poster with the aim of sharing it among friends.

Speaking to Brisbane's ABC Radio, he explained how the poster had taken on a life of its own.

Nick said:

Leading up to designing it there was a lot of media about drunken assaults here in Queensland.

Off the back of that, I was reflecting on my own experiences going out on the weekend. It happens so frequently that it's par for the course now and it's become normal. I started to think that it was weird that it's now normal.

The thought came into my head - wouldn't it be great if we could celebrate without violence? That then turned into try not to punch anyone in the head.

That's surely a message we can live by.