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A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a sizable blue sculpture of a legendary being by applying googly eyes to it.

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

Officials commented at the time of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a person placing fake eyes on the artwork, which locals have dubbed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst did not enter a plea and told the judge she was ill, according to media sources, with the magistrate advising her to secure a lawyer before her next court date in December.

The following day the reported event, the city leader said that repairs to the popular community sculpture would be costly as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in September. “It is not harmless fun, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those people of our community who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She added the council would seek the “significant” repair costs from those accountable for the vandalism.

When the artwork was initially suggested, it received varied responses from the local community due to its cost and design.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the sculpture depicts a mythical megafauna, with the creators inspired by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.