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A teenager from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after reportedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She said the council would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Priced at 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.