[2] George Swinburne was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, and in 1874 became apprenticed to chemical merchants, J. Williamson & Co. After completing his apprenticeship he became a clerk in the same business (1880–82), and studied engineering in the evening,[1] shorthand and German before beginning work in the morning, and joined a debating society.

[1] In September 1882 Swinburne went to London, finding employment in the gas and mechanical engineering business of his uncle, John Coates.

[1] Swinburne's chief recreation was music and in June 1885 he was one of the choristers at the Handel festival held in the Crystal Palace.

Swinburne found electioneering a great strain, "a game not worth playing—ended in weariness, sleepless nights and restless days".

[2] Swinburne visited England in 1891 and fortunately withdrew most of his capital from Melbourne to help his father and brother to start a business; in doing so he practically escaped the effects of the end of the land boom and the bank crisis of 1893.

There had been a severe drought in Australia and the policy speech foreshadowed "important works for the conservation and distribution of water in the arid areas".

[2] In November 1903 Irvine's health was so seriously affected by over-work that he was compelled to resign the premiership, and Thomas Bent who succeeded him gave Swinburne the portfolio of minister of water-supply (1904–08).

[2] Swinburne was involved in the Murray River water-sharing arrangement, his draft agreement of 1906 was remarkably close to that finally accepted in 1915.

The motion in the house was defeated by a large majority, Swinburne brought an action against The Age, and in 1909 obtained a verdict for £3250 damages and costs.

Age proprietor David Syme had practically been a dictator in politics for many years; his mistake in this case was to attack a man who was not only perfectly honest, but had the courage to go into the witness box and the ability to withstand the cross-examination of two of the most able barristers of the day.

D. J. Hamer, a former Minister of the Collins street Independent Church, On 31 July 1913 Swinburne retired from parliament to become a member of the Inter-State Commission appointed by the federal government.

A host of matters was referred to the commission, and Swinburne thought it right to resign from all his directorates and practically abandon the business career in which he had been so successful.

Swinburne became a member of the council of public instruction after he left state politics, and especially encouraged decentralization and technical education.

His second daughter, Gwendolen Hamer Swinburne, published A Source Book of Australian History (1919), and Womanhood in the Life of the Nations (1923).