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A teenager from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a sizable art piece of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, 19 years old, appeared remotely at the local court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with a single charge of property damage.

In a statement at the moment of the recent event, the municipal authorities said that CCTV footage captured a person placing artificial eyes on the sculpture, which locals have dubbed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

A day after the reported event, the local mayor stated that repairs to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the stickers could not be removed without damaging the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed Cast in Blue.”

She said the council 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 local community due to its cost and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 (eighty-nine thousand US dollars; £68,000), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.