The Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) in Canberra is using Twitter to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government.

From today, MoAD, based at Old Parliament House, is "live tweeting" the events of the dismissal, through the voices of participants like then prime minister Gough Whitlam, caretaker prime minister Malcolm Fraser, and governor-general Sir John Kerr.

The Twitter campaign, using the hashtag #Dismissal1975, will run until November 11 - following the timeline of the historic time in Australia's political history.

MoAD senior historian Libby Stewart said the campaign would bring to life the intrigue and the drama of the dismissal, while also helping highlight the changes in the way Australians now engage with democracy.

"For many people it is hard to imagine a time when information was not so readily available to everyone across the country," Ms Stewart said.

"If the Whitlam Government had access to a 24-hour news cycle and social media channels like Twitter, the chain of events that led to the dismissal might have gone a very differently."

Writer Paul Daley was in charge of collating the information into tweets of 140 characters or less.

"The dismissal of the Whitlam government was a historic moment in Australia's political history and one of a few rare moments in world-wide political history where a head of state has used the powers arguably granted by that position to act independently of advice of the government," Mr Daley said.

"Faced with a vast body of research-books, media, transcripts of speeches, personal recollections and the official documents - this became a wonderful, confronting and challenging project.

"It was certainly a journey of discovery that brought me a new perception of and intrigue with events of almost half a century ago."

#Dismissal1975 will also share and feature some of the iconic documents, film and photos from the dismissal, including the letter of dismissal signed by the then governor-general, now housed at the National Archives.

MoAD director Daryl Karp said the campaign was about getting Australians to engage with politics in a different way by using channels they use every day, particularly a younger generation.

"Museums around the world are changing the way that they help their audiences interact with their exhibitions," Mr Karp said.

"At the museum, digital technology is part of our toolkit to enrich users' experiences and create collaborative communities that engage in lively conversations."