Ebenezer studied theology at the University of St Andrews to be educated for the ministry but finding difficulties in accepting the creeds of the day became an unattached evangelist, working in Liverpool, Manchester, other north country industrial towns and in Scotland.

[1] In April 1853, partly for health reasons, Syme, his wife and three young sons sailed for Australia in the Abdalla.

[1] When the Age was founded in 1854 Syme joined the staff and two years later, the paper being in difficulties, it was sold to him and his brother, David.

Ebenezer Syme was elected member for Loddon in November 1856 in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria,[2] but as this conflicted with his journalistic work he did not stand again when his term expired in 1859.

[1] One son, Joseph Cowen Syme, was for many years part proprietor and manager of The Age.