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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to find a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She said the council would pursue the “significant” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the artwork was initially suggested, it drew varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.