🔗 Share this article

A young person from the Land Down Under has appeared in court after allegedly defacing a large blue sculpture of a mythical creature by applying plastic eyes to it.

Amelia Vanderhorst, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in the state of South Australia on that day, facing with a single charge of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council explained 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 court she was unwell, as reported by media sources, with the magistrate advising her to find a lawyer before her next court date in December.

A day after the alleged incident, the local mayor said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be costly as the adhesive eyes were impossible to be detached without harming the art piece.

“This wilful damage to a cherished community art is inappropriate and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor said in mid-September. “It is not innocent amusement, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those people of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

She said the council would pursue the “substantial” restoration expenses from those responsible for the vandalism.

When the sculpture was first proposed, it received 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 artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture’s designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was “massive, lumbering and fascinating”.