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

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

In a statement at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that CCTV footage captured a individual placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that repairs to the popular public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes could not be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a valued community art is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our community who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added 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 local community due to its price tag and design.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.