diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 5f5e6abac..0ceb5f5a8 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -160,6 +160,8 @@ Other changes:
 
 * Default text added to macrodef. Bugzilla report 42301.
 
+* "rawblobs" attribute added to SQL task.
+
 
 Changes from Ant 1.6.5 to Ant 1.7.0
 ===================================
diff --git a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/sql.html b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/sql.html
index 8b49307f1..f70c426e3 100644
--- a/docs/manual/CoreTasks/sql.html
+++ b/docs/manual/CoreTasks/sql.html
@@ -188,6 +188,13 @@ and <b>abort</b> execution and transaction and fail task.</p>
   <td width="10%" valign="top">No (default=true)</td>
 </tr>
 
+<tr>
+  <td width="12%" valign="top">rawblobs</td>
+  <td width="78%" valign="top">If true, will write raw streams rather than hex encoding when
+    printing BLOB results. <em>Since Ant 1.7.1</em>.</td>
+  <td width="10%" valign="top">No, default <em>false</em></td>
+</tr>
+
 </table>
 
 <h3>Parameters specified as nested elements</h3>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/SQLExec.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/SQLExec.java
index 79ffa952e..edac9c0b4 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/SQLExec.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/SQLExec.java
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.SQLWarning;
 import java.sql.ResultSet;
 import java.sql.ResultSetMetaData;
+import java.sql.Types;
 
 /**
  * Executes a series of SQL statements on a database using JDBC.
@@ -191,6 +192,12 @@ public class SQLExec extends JDBCTask {
      */
     private boolean expandProperties = true;
 
+    /**
+     * should we print raw BLOB data?
+     * @since Ant 1.7.1
+     */
+    private boolean rawBlobs;
+
     /**
      * Set the name of the SQL file to be run.
      * Required unless statements are enclosed in the build file
@@ -372,6 +379,15 @@ public class SQLExec extends JDBCTask {
         escapeProcessing = enable;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set whether to print raw BLOBs rather than their string (hex) representations.
+     * @param rawBlobs whether to print raw BLOBs.
+     * @since Ant 1.7.1
+     */
+    public void setRawBlobs(boolean rawBlobs) {
+        this.rawBlobs = rawBlobs;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Load the sql file and then execute it
      * @throws BuildException on error.
@@ -634,10 +650,10 @@ public class SQLExec extends JDBCTask {
                     out.println();
                 }
                 while (rs.next()) {
-                    out.print(rs.getString(1));
+                    printValue(rs, 1, out);
                     for (int col = 2; col <= columnCount; col++) {
                         out.write(',');
-                        out.print(rs.getString(col));
+                        printValue(rs, col, out);
                     }
                     out.println();
                 }
@@ -646,6 +662,15 @@ public class SQLExec extends JDBCTask {
         out.println();
     }
 
+    private void printValue(ResultSet rs, int col, PrintStream out)
+            throws SQLException {
+        if (rawBlobs && rs.getMetaData().getColumnType(col) == Types.BLOB) {
+            new StreamPumper(rs.getBlob(col).getBinaryStream(), out).run();
+        } else {
+            out.print(rs.getString(col));
+        }
+    }
+
     /*
      * Closes an unused connection after an error and doesn't rethrow
      * a possible SQLException