diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 0375b1666..981e75d7c 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ Fixed bugs:
 * Fixed bug where ant would not copy system properties into new Project
   in ant/antcall tasks when inheritall="false" is set.
 
+* <propertyfile> would not close the original property file.
+
 Changes from Ant 1.4 to Ant 1.4.1
 ===========================================
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/PropertyFile.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/PropertyFile.java
index 74cf4aa97..d79d7ff56 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/PropertyFile.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/PropertyFile.java
@@ -203,8 +203,12 @@ public class PropertyFile extends Task
             if (m_propertyfile.exists())
             {
                 log("Updating property file: "+m_propertyfile.getAbsolutePath());
-                m_properties.load(new BufferedInputStream(
-                                    new FileInputStream(m_propertyfile)));
+                FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(m_propertyfile);
+                BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(fis);
+                m_properties.load(bis);
+                if (fis != null) {
+                    fis.close();
+                }
             }
             else
             {