Born at Murray Park, Magill in South Australia on September 27 1863, Sir George Murray was the son of Alexander Murray, a pioneer pastoralist and politician and Margaret, nee Tinline.

He was educated at J L Young's Adelaide Educational Institution at Parkside; the High School, Edinburgh, Scotland; the Collegiate School of St Peter in Adelaide, where he won the Prankerd, Westminister, Wyatt and Farrell Scholarships and the University of Adelaide where he qualified for the B.A. degree in 1883.

During his time at the University of Adelaide he won the John Howard Clark scholarship in 1882 and the South Australian Scholarship in 1883, which took him to Trinity College Cambridge where he took his B.A. and LL.B Degrees.  He held an Inns of Court Scholarship in 1886 and was bracketed Senior in Law Tripos on graduating in 1887.

In 1888 he was called to the Bar of the Inner Temple before returning to South Australia where he was Associate to the Chief Justice Sir Samuel Way.  He was called to the Bar of South Australia in 1889 and the New South Wales and Victorian Bars in 1890. In 1891 he became a member of the Council of the University of Adelaide.  In 1906 he was the first Adelaide University graduate to be made a K.C. In 1907, he endowed the Tinline scholarship for historical research, in memory of his mother's family.

After obtaining his LL.M. from Cambridge in 1909 he became a judge of the Supreme Court in SA in 1912 and vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide in 1915.   A year later he succeeded Sir Samuel Way as Chief Justice of SA, was appointed Chancellor of the University and Lieutenant-Governor.  His numerous and generous gifts to the University over the years included UKL 1000 in 1920, UKL 2,000 in 1931 UKL 10,000 in 1936, UKL 53,000 in 1937 and on his death a further UKL 83,000 was bequeathed.

Awarded K.C.M.G. in 1917 and Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1933.  On his death on February 18, in 1942 he was probably the most distinguished man in South Australia.