An Australian state is set offer drivers personalised licence plates with emojis for the first time in the world.

Vehicle-owners in Queensland can add emojis to their licence plates from March 1, Personalised Plates Queensland (PPQ) said on Wednesday.

An emoji is a small digital icon or image used to express an object, symbol, emotion or idea.

Examples include expressive faces, vegetables and excrement.

According to the Queensland Department of Transport contractor, initially only five types of emojis will be offered, heart, eyes and smiley, sunglasses, laugh-out-loud and winking face.

The emojis would just be for decoration.

Even though added to official plates, they would not be part of the car’s registration.

The white-on-black plates would have a mix of three letters, two numbers and one of the five emojis.

The emoji plates will cost 475 Australian dollars (340 dollars).