David Mehegan was born in 1942 and raised on Swan Island by his grandparents, ‘Nana’ Elsie and ‘Dad’ Lieutenant Commander George Saunders MBE who was the Officer in Charge of the RAN Mine Depot.
In his memoir ‘Swan Island Kid’, published by QHM, David describes how you had to get permission to drive across to the island.
“There was a dockyard policeman on the gate, basically where it is now, but on the old wooden bridge. There was an Office and a big shed to keep the trolley in overnight. There were two or three carriages, open though it had a roof. The workers would ride their bikes, leave them there and come over by trolley. Do the day’s work and go home by trolley.”
