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A young person from the Land Down Under has faced legal proceedings after allegedly vandalizing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying googly eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, 19 years old, appeared via phone at the local court in the state of South Australia on Tuesday, facing with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the time of the recent event, the local council explained that CCTV footage showed a individual putting fake eyes on the artwork, which residents have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the court she was ill, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, the city leader stated that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without harming the art piece.

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

She said the local government would pursue the “substantial” repair costs from those responsible for the damage.

At the time the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and design.

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