George Marshall-Hall studied at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1891 he was appointed Ormond Professor of Music at the University of Melbourne where he also became well-known as a conductor and founder of the Marshall-Hall Orchestra in 1892. Marshall-Hall also established the University's Conservatorium of Music in 1895, with W.A. Laver. After his dismissal from the university amidst controversy, he established a private conservatorium in East Melbourne, the Marshall-Hall Conservatorium. Marshall-Hall also wrote music and libretti for three operas.
Soon after his arrival in Melbourne, Marshall-Hall formed close friendships with Arthur Streeton (q.v.) and other Heidelberg painters. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry about Marshall-Hall, 'there was clearly an exchange of ideas about current European Symbolism and Wagnerianism and mutual encouragement to creativity.'
Sir Herbert Brookes published At the Graveside, a part-prose, part-verse elegy in memory of Marshall-Hall.