More than four decades on, Newcastle City Council has come under fire from the former manager of the gallery that represented Margel Hinder, after green lights were again spotted illuminating the fountain.

“I was horrified because I know it’s not what Margel wanted,” Gael Davies, former curator of von Bertouch Galleries, said.

“I know it’s a public sculpture and things are going to happen but I think they [council] haven’t paid the due respect that it deserves.

“It’s appalling. It really did upset me.”

Council’s CEO Jeremy Bath said the lighting system defaulted to green when the regular white lighting failed.

Read more: The painful birth of Civic Park fountain

But Mr Bath challenged Ms Davies’ view on how the sculpture should be lit.

“The accidental change has generated plenty of support from the public who believe that the coloured lights are an improvement to the existing fountain,” he said.

“I'm conscious that Margel Hinder expressed an opinion back in the 70s that the lights should always be white, but frankly, for all we know she may have a different opinion if she were still alive. 

“Not only does the coloured lighting accentuate the fountain, but it also activates Civic Park during the evening which helps counter anti-social behaviour.”

Ms Hinder – a well-known Australian-American modernist sculptor who died in 1995 – won a national competition to design and build the fountain in the early 1960s, beating about 90 other concepts for the piece.

The fountain was officially unveiled in November, 1966, but Ms Hinder threatened to sue Newcastle council in 1973 after it put green lights in the fountain.

Ms Davies told the Newcastle Herald the threat of legal action was “very serious at the time”. 

She said she believed the white light served just as well for activating the park and discouraging anti-social behaviour.

“I think it behoves us to maintain the integrity of the artist and the artist’s concept as much as possible,” she said. 

“Think of the fountains through hundreds of years, like the Trevi Fountain in Rome, they’re icons and [the Civic Fountain] is an icon here. It’s our icon.”