diff --git a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/loadproperties-test.xml b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/loadproperties-test.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b8421f1b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/loadproperties-test.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!--
+  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  limitations under the License.
+-->
+<project default="antunit" xmlns:au="antlib:org.apache.ant.antunit">
+
+  <import file="../antunit-base.xml" />
+
+  <target name="test-basic">
+    <loadproperties>
+      <string>basic.foo=foo
+basic.bar=bar
+basic.baz=baz</string>
+    </loadproperties>
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="basic.foo" value="foo" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="basic.bar" value="bar" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="basic.baz" value="baz" />
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="test-xref">
+    <loadproperties>
+      <string>xref.foo=foo
+xref.bar=$${xref.foo}
+xref.baz=$${xref.bar}</string>
+    </loadproperties>
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref.foo" value="foo" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref.bar" value="foo" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref.baz" value="foo" />
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="test-xref-complex">
+    <loadproperties>
+      <string>xref-complex.a=$$
+xref-complex.b={
+xref-complex.c=}
+xref-complex.d=x
+xref-complex.e=$${xref-complex.a}$${xref-complex.b}xref-complex.d$${xref-complex.c}
+xref-complex.f=$${xref-complex.e}</string>
+    </loadproperties>
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref-complex.a" value="$$" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref-complex.b" value="{" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref-complex.c" value="}" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref-complex.d" value="x" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref-complex.e" value="$${xref-complex.d}" />
+    <au:assertPropertyEquals name="xref-complex.f" value="$${xref-complex.d}" />
+  </target>
+
+</project>