Voting is open to the public for Di to join the prestigious list of National Living Treasures. Only seven people will be chosen from the current list of nominees, and it's only the second time in 15 years the list has been reviewed.

"I am touched and greatly honoured to be nominated for the list of candidates for the National Trust Living Treasures,'' Di said.

"I am a great admirer of the work and objectives of the National Trust. I am proud of having written 20 books, all of which tell stories that are important to Australians.

"I am also pleased that I have a loyal readership which is interested in the subjects I have raised in my novels.

"These issues are ones with which I have become significantly involved and think are important to the future of this country; Aboriginal reconciliation, the preservation of the environment, protection of whales against indiscriminate hunting, ethical local government as well as raising awareness of breast and ovarian cancer in women are all of vital interest to me, and I value the opportunity to present them to a wider audience."

"The title National Living Treasure is conferred when someone accomplishes an outstanding achievement, swelling the country's consciousness with admiration, pride and acknowledgement," says National Trust of Australia (NSW) CEO Brian Scarsbrick, AM.

"It's an historic title, voted by the people, and one that only 100 living Australians can truly claim." In fact, the National Living Treasures List is a roll call so prestigious it has only been reviewed once in the List's 15-year history (in 2004).

Now, following the deaths of our much-loved Treasures - aviator Nancy-Bird Walton, writer and academic Donald Horne, author Elizabeth Jolley, humanitarian Mavis Taylor, opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland and, most recently, the cherished artist Margaret Olley - the National Living Treasures List has seven vacancies to fill.