Australian Student At Noumea College

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28795, 16 January 1959, Page 2

Australian Student At Noumea College

.Mrs Marina Laplagne, an attractive blonde student from Australia who went to New Caledonia on a scholarship to perfect her French, found a happy way of doing so—she married her teacher, Mr Jacques Laplagne. Mr Laplagne was born in Noumea and studied in France and England. Thq couple married three weeks' ago in Noumea and are combining a honeymoon trip to New Zealand with conducting a cultural tour by 20 persons from Noumea, arranged through the Education Department of New Caledonia.

Winning Essay Mrs Laplagne, interviewed in Christchurch, said that after she graduated from Adelaide Girls’ High School in 1955 she competed for a scholarship that was offered annually to Australian students by the Government of New Caledonia. The essay she wrote in French was selected as the best “I was astonished and highly delighted to win the scholarship,’’ she said. This entitled her to one year’s study in Noumea, at the completion of which she passed the first part of French matriculation. At the end of , the second year, having passed the second part of the examination, she became eligible for a scholarship to attend a university in France. She was considering study in France when her engagement to Mr Laplagne changed her plans. For the last nine months Mrs Laplagne has worked as a secretary in the office of the Australian consul in Noumea. The couple plans to build a home in Noumea where Mr Laplagne teaches at La Perouse college. French Schooling Comparing the high school in Australia and the high school in Noumea, Mrs Laplagne said that the French school had an entirely different system of education. Sometimes? classes would be held from 7 o’clock in the morning until 9 o’clock. Students would then be thrown on. their own resources until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. School life was confined to lessons and learning and did not include activities such as debating, organised sports, music, or after-class activities. There was not the spirit of comradeship and enthusiastic group activity among pupils, as in the British school system. She had missed the social and sporting side of school life. Her favourite sporthockey—was not considered ladylike for French girls, she said. Outside interests for school pupils was left to parents to organise. Swimming from the fine New Caledonian beaches had been a delight but pools where swimmers could train were not available. Some tennis was played. La Perouse College was the only government secondary school in Noumea. It was a coeducational school where boarders were accommodated and students from Tahiti and the

New Hebrides attended. At the completion of eight years' secondary school education, pupils who graduated, were offered generous bursaries enabling them to study at universities in France. About 20 students who were proceeding to France this year would be taken first to visit Australia by Mr and Mrs Laplagne. Outdoor Life

New Caledonia was a very agreeable place to live, Mrs Laplagne said. The beauty of the island and the ample opportunity for outdoor life there appealed to her. Water ski-ing and spear fishing were popular and the water was warm enough to enjoy swimming all the year round. Social life was pleasant although cultural activities were curtailed because it was hard to keep them going in such a small community. A music circle had lapsed when its organiser, a Spanish teacher at the college, had returned to Europe. Recorded music was a recreation on which residents spent a great deal of money she said. There were several* fellow Australians attached to the headquarters of the South Pacific Commission in Noumea. _ Although more tourists from New Zealand had visited the island since regular air communication had been established, they were not yet well catered for she said. Improvements for their reception were at present being worked out she said.