SYDNEY, Oct 2: The Bradman Museum, established to honour world’s greatest cricketer, Sir Bradman, is facing dwindling visitor numbers and may have to be reinvented for a generation more familiar with Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting, reports said on Monday.
Situated in Bowral, an hour's drive south-west of Sydney where Bradman lived his early years, the museum is experiencing a decline in income since the 2001 death of Bradman, aged 92.“Business has been difficult since Sir Donald died,” Richard Mulvaney, the museum's founding director, told The Sydney Morning Herald Monday.
“It's directly attributable to the decline of the tourism industry in regional Australia. The tradition of the Australian family hopping into the car on a Sunday and going out for a collective outing is becoming a rare thing.”
In its heyday, in the late 1990s, 85,000 cricket lovers visited the museum every year, but that has fallen to about 40,000 per year.
Mulvaney stepped down from his position last week after 17 years and a new board —chaired by the former New South Wales state premier John Fahey - is reinventing the museum for a generation more familiar with the exploits of contemporary Australian greats Warne and Ponting.
Reports suggest Mulvaney, who worked closely with Sir Donald and is portrayed as the custodian of the Bradman legacy, felt uncomfortable with the board's cost-cutting initiatives and revenue-making proposals.
Fahey confirmed to the newspaper that the museum's educational programs, scholarships and coaching clinics would continue, but last year the name was changed to The Bradman Museum of Cricket.
The Herald said the change in name symbolises the board's belief it has been too closely associated with Bradman and his era rather than more contemporary aspects of the game. There are plans to run an ever-changing series of temporary exhibitions to appeal to younger fans.
“We would dearly love to get into one-day cricket,” Fahey said. “And we want to get into interactive technology.”
The board can no longer rely on hosting a match at the picturesque Bradman Oval against visiting international teams.
Although Mark Waugh captained a Bradman XI at Bowral during England's last Ashes tour, there is no corresponding fixture on this year's Ashes tour.—AFP