While a baby and a number of children were part of the crowd for the participatory experience of Dismissed: the tour, for some the reliving of the events of November 11, 1975 brought back personal memories of the polarising day.

Karen McVicker, from Red Hill, put her hand up to step into the role of Malcolm Fraser for the tour.

She said the event reminded her of the reaction she saw as a child living in the Liberal prime minister's electorate in western Victoria.

"I remember getting off the school bus at the top of the paddock, and Mum said Whitlam had been dismissed," she said.

"The majority of the electorate were dancing in the paddocks.

"It wasn't until I got to uni [years later] I realised how many people it disappointed."

The small tour group was led around the grand old building's Senate, House of Representatives and prime minister's office –plus a set up room for the defining Yarralumla sacking – as they were explained and portrayed the political and legislative context which led to what many continue to regard as the vice-regal overreach.

Museum of Australian Democracy Lifelong Learning manager Glenda Smith helped prepare the first Dismissed tour in 1995 and said the first holding of the tour since Mr Whitlam's death last month made it more poignant.

Ms Smith said the tours provided a mix of education for the younger generation and those who remembered it.

"That passion and emotional connection for those who lived through it still lives on," she said.

"We want people to make it their own decision about it."