Stricken NSW National Trust set to bolt the doors of several heritage properties

The NSW National Trust may draw the drapes on 10 of its historic properties for extended periods as it can’t afford to keep them open to the public.

The potential closure list includes Grossmann and Brough House in Maitland and the Yass house of Hamilton Hume, the first Australian-born explorer.

The trust's NSW chief executive, Will Holmes a Court, has suggested while the trust was a very resilient organisation, it was seriously challenged by the lack of corporate funding and the lack of government funding.

It has sent a proposal to state Heritage Minister Robyn Parker foreshadowing the move and suggesting the only way to prevent the closures was for $2 million of the $20 million given to the government-run Historic Houses Trust last financial year to be diverted to National Trust NSW.

The trust's portfolio of more than 30 properties in NSW – an asset base worth more than $100 million – is largely run by volunteers.

''It is an invidious, onerous, horrible position to have to take for the trust to even consider this. We don't do this lightly,'' Holmes a Court told Fairfax Media.

''Regional communities can't afford this sort of impact, it affects the psyche of a community.''

The National Trust began in Australia in 1945 to protect early colonial buildings along Sydney’s Macquarie Street from the threat of demolition.