diff --git a/include/osgDB/Registry b/include/osgDB/Registry
index 28264e81f..92aa69010 100644
--- a/include/osgDB/Registry
+++ b/include/osgDB/Registry
@@ -323,6 +323,8 @@ class RegisterReaderWriterProxy
             }
         }
         
+        T* get() { return _rw.get(); }
+        
     protected:
         osg::ref_ptr<T> _rw;
 };