Ernest Fysh was educated at Berwick Grammar and South Melbourne Grammar schools and the University of Melbourne, working his way through university on scholarships. Whilst at the University of Melbourne he was, for a period of time, editor of one of their publications, Alma Mater. He was a teacher for many years in north-west Victoria, and did valuable research in the early days of broadcasting.
Fysh was also a photographer, a publisher and a poet, who, aside from having a book of poems published, also contributed poetry to The Bulletin. He had a wide knowledge of art and was the author of Memoir of C. D. Richardson : Sculptor and Painter (Founder of the Brighton Art Collection, Brighton, Victoria, Australia), Carlton : Industrial Printing & Publ. Co., 1933.
Fysh, who died at Caritas Christi, Melbourne, after a long illness, was a descendant of an old pioneering family and was also the nephew of the first Federal Treasurer and former Premier of Tasmania, Sir Philip Fysh.