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

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared remotely at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that CCTV footage showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the judge advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, the local mayor said that repairs to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the local government would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the artwork was initially suggested, it received mixed reactions from the area residents due to its cost and design.

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.