Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - An haife shi a Redfern zuwa James Syme da Annie Sheriff. Ya girma a Kogarah kuma ya bar makaranta yana da shekaru goma sha huɗu don yin aiki a matsayin mai aikin tubali. A cikin 1940 ya sayi ƙaramar gonar kiwon kaji a Moorebank, kuma ya zama sakataren Ƙungiyar Manoman Kiwon kaji na Australiya. Ya yi hidima a Papua New Guinea a lokacin Yaƙin Duniya na II, amma ya kamu da zazzabin cizon sauro kuma aka sallame shi a kan dalilai na likita a shekara ta 1943. Ya kasance ɗan gajeren memba na Jam'iyyar Labor amma a 1938 ya shiga Jam'iyyar Kwaminis ta Ostiraliya (CPA). Ya auri ɗan kwaminisanci Kathleen Stringer a 1952; dukansu sanannun 'yan kwaminisanci ne a cikin 1950s, kuma a cikin 1960s da 1970s Syme ya zama mai adawa da Yaƙin Vietnam a matsayin mamayewa mara adalci. Ya kuma kasance mai kare hakkin mata da kare muhalli wanda ya goyi bayan 'yan asalin ƙasar, kuma tare da CPA ya yi adawa da mamayewar Tarayyar Soviet na Czechoslovakia
a shekara ta 1968. A cikin 1970s ya mai da hankali kan kiyayewa, kuma ya yi yaƙi da hakar yashi a Kogin Georges. An kai masa hari a gidansa a shekarar 1976, wanda ya danganta shi da ayyukansa na gida. A shekarar 1980 an zabe shi a Majalisar Birnin Liverpool, inda ya yi aiki na shekaru goma sha biyar. A majalisar ya taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen kafa yankin shakatawa na Chipping Norton Lake. Syme ya mutu a shekara ta 2013.