Situated in Bowral, an hour's drive southwest 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.

In 52 Test matches, Bradman amassed 6,996 runs at a career average of 99.94, which has never been eclipsed.