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

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, participated remotely at the local court in the state of South Australia on that day, charged with one count of property damage.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video captured a individual putting artificial eyes on the artwork, which locals have nicknamed the “Cast in Blue”.

Ms Vanderhorst made no plea and told the judge she was unwell, according to news outlets, with the judge recommending her to secure a legal representative before her next court date in December.

The following day the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers could not be removed without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a cherished public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” Mayor Lynette Martin said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is costly - it is also disappointing to those members of our society who have embraced the Blue Blob.”

She said the local government would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the damage.

When the artwork was first proposed, it received varied responses from the local community due to its cost and appearance.

Priced at A$136,000 ($89,000; £68,000), the artwork depicts a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial discovered in nearby caverns that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.