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

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained that surveillance video showed a individual placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and informed the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in the final month of the year.

The following day the alleged incident, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the local government would seek the “significant” restoration expenses from those accountable for the damage.

At the time the sculpture was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.