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A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly defacing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

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

In a statement at the time of the September incident, the municipal authorities explained that surveillance video captured a person putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, according to media sources, with the judge recommending her to find a lawyer before her next court date in the final month of the year.

A day after the alleged incident, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without damaging the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin remarked in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She said the local government would pursue the “significant” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the area residents due to its price tag and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric marsupial ant-eater discovered in local caves that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.