The life of emigration children's dissected puzzle, with hand coloured lithographed paper laid down on wood, paints a picture of optimism, if one of hard work, for settlers in 'the Antipodes'.

The five vignettes which make up the puzzle follow the fortunes of an emigrant family travelling aboard ship to a new life in an Australian colony, where land clearing and successful sheep farming are achieved.

Dissected puzzles date from the 1760s when featured maps were used to teach geography to children, combining recreation with education. Soon historical and moral topics were used, and by the 1850s scenes from stories were depicted. More intricate, interlocking puzzles could be cut after the invention in the 1870s of the jigsaw, whose name came to be applied to these games.

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