Harry Murray was born at Launceston, Tasmania, on 1 December 1880. As a youth he helped run the family farm. He was also interested in the military and joined a militia unit, the Australian Field Artillery, in Launceston. Murray moved to Western Australia at the age of 19 or 20 where he worked as a mail courier on the goldfields. He was employing timber-cutters for the railways in the south west of Western Australia when at the age of 30 he enlisted with the AIF as a private on 13 October 1914.

Murray landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 with the 16th Battalion as a member of a machine gun crew. He was wounded several times, spent June in hospital, was promoted to lance corporal and on 13 May 1915 won the Distinguished Conduct Medal [DCM] for "exceptional courage, energy and skill' between 9-31 May. He was wounded again on 8 July and a month later experienced a remarkable series of promotions. On 13 August he was made a sergeant, commissioned second-lieutenant and transferred to the 13th Battalion.

By 1 March 1916 Murray had reached the rank of captain and soon after sailed for France with the 13th Battalion. On the Western Front Murray defied the statistics, participating in each of his unit's major actions and surviving. For his role in the fighting at Mouquet Farm he received the Distinguished Service Order [DSO] "Although twice wounded, he commanded his company with the greatest courage and initiative, beating off four enemy counter -attacks . when an enemy bullet started a man's equipment exploding, he tore the man's equipment off at great personal risk". His wounds kept Murray from returning to the front until October of that year.

Four months later, on the night of 4-5 February 1917, Murray led his company's attack on Stormy Trench, near Gueudecourt. Over almost 24 hours they repelled counter-attacks, fought in merciless close quarter battles and suffered under intense shell-fire. Some 230 members of the 13th Battalion were killed. For his bravery and exploits during this action he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Murray "made his presence felt throughout the line, encouraging his men, heading bombing parties, leading bayonet charges, and carrying wounded to places safety".

In March 1918 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given command of the 4th Machine Gun Battalion. He remained in this command until the end of the war. In April, during the attack on Bullecourt, Murray won a bar to his Distinguished Service Order "He is not only brave and daring, but a skilful soldier possessing tactical instinct of the highest order". In October Murray was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and in May 1919 was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George [CMG].

With the fighting over, Murray toured England studying agricultural methods. His service in the AIF ended on 9 March 1920 and he settled on a grazing property at Muckadilla in Queensland. The following year he married Constance Cameron, but the marriage did not last and in 1925 he moved to Zealand where he married Ellen Cameron. The couple returned to Queensland in 1928 and purchased another grazing property at Richmond.

Murray enlisted for service during the Second World War and commanded the 26th Battalion in north Queensland until August 1942. He retired from the army in early 1944. Although the most decorated Australian soldier of the First World War, he was regarded as a shy and modest man. Murray died of a heart attack following a car accident on 7 January 1966.