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A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after reportedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by affixing googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

In a statement at the moment of the September incident, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage showed a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which residents have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to news outlets, 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 restoration to the much-loved community sculpture would be expensive as the adhesive eyes could not be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our society who have embraced Cast in Blue.”

She added the council would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the vandalism.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it drew mixed reactions from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing 136,000 Australian dollars (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.