I walked past the sandstone memorial today to mark the life of Joseph Banks, the first European botanist to put foot on Australian soil. Apart from the contested political question, it must have been a pretty exciting moment for him to encounter the largess of new leaves and plethora of flora. I imagine his pockets and notebooks must have been stuffed to overflowing with samples and sketches, and that he must have often stood mesmerized like the proverbial boy in the lolly shop.

My turn will come, as it will for all who will step for the first time across the golden shore. The trees of heaven are pictured in that exotic book of Revelation, and what a treat it will be to pluck some leaves from that one described as ‘bearing twelve crops of fruit’, and to rub them between our palms, to enjoy their heavenly fragrance and to feel the tingle of their healing properties.

One thing certainly will be different. I won’t be walking past any tombs! But memorials? Perhaps. To mark the location of significant things that happened upon the earth. Maybe where the Red Sea was parted. Maybe where the old temple stood. Maybe the site of the jail where the Philippian jailor was converted. But if that is so, then one site will certainly not be left out. The place where a Tree once stood, planted for the healing of the nations. And sucus salvatio (‘sap of salvation’) is my best attempt at the classification.