{"id":565040,"date":"2026-03-26T06:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/565040\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T06:11:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:11:24","slug":"mount-gambier-woman-convicted-of-graffitiing-cast-in-blue-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/565040\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Gambier woman convicted of graffitiing Cast in Blue sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 20-year-old woman who stuck googly eyes on a sculpture in the middle of Mount Gambier has been convicted of graffitiing the artwork.<\/p>\n

Since its unveiling, the controversial Cast in Blue sculpture has made headlines worldwide for its unique design \u2014 and over the googly eye stunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cast in Blue sculpture has been the subject of criticism from locals who say it does not look good and is a waste of money. (ABC South East SA: Josh Brine)<\/p>\n

Last year, Mount Gambier woman Amelia Vanderhorst posted a recording of her vandalism to the sculpture \u2014 also known as the “Blue Blob” \u2014 online.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, police alleged she was “recklessly indifferent” as to whether her conduct damaged the artwork.<\/p>\n

Ms Vanderhorst pleaded guilty in Mount Gambier Magistrates Court today to a charge of marking graffiti.<\/p>\n

Police said Mount Gambier City Council spent nearly $3,000 to repair the sculpture.<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Michael Hill told the court Ms Vanderhorst had been under the influence of MDMA and had drunk approximately 3 litres of vodka on the night of the vandalism.<\/p>\n

He said she wanted to make the sculpture look funny after seeing others do similar things.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Cast in Blue sculpture in Mount Gambier was vandalised by Amelia Vanderhorst on September last year. (Facebook: Amelia Vanderhorst)<\/p>\n

Mr Hill told the court Ms Vanderhorst was remorseful and had said it was “one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said she had begun a new relationship in January with a partner who was not supportive of her drug and alcohol use, adding she was now clean from MDMA and only consumed alcohol in controlled environments.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Kylie Schulz ordered Ms Vanderhorst to pay $2,000 in compensation to the council and to complete 60 hours of community service, noting the case had attracted significant attention both online and in the media.<\/p>\n

“Your actions mocked the sculpture and the artist,” Magistrate Schulz said.Crowdfunding for lawyer<\/p>\n

During an appearance in November via phone<\/a>, Magistrate Koula Kossiavelos encouraged Ms Vanderhorst to apply for legal aid, but instead she set up a GoFundMe page that raised $1,894 for her defence.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amelia Vanderhorst leaves the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court after her last appearance in December. (ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert)<\/p>\n

“I am the one who put the eyes on the blue blob and am getting charged for it when people do not think it’s fair,” Ms Vanderhorst wrote on the crowdfunding platform.<\/p>\n

“I do not have the funds for a lawyer, as I am only young and jobless.<\/p>\n

“I did not mean for the eyes on the blue blob to harm or offend anything or anyone at all so please help me.”<\/p>\n

The page has since been removed, and Mr Hill told the court the money had been returned to the donors.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Mount Gambier City Council spent a “significant” amount of money to repair Cast in Blue. (Supplied: City of Mount Gambier)<\/p>\n

Ms Vanderhorst returned to court in December<\/a>, just after engaging Mr Hill as her lawyer.<\/p>\n

During that appearance, he told the court he would need time to organise a contract to represent her and for negotiations with the prosecution.<\/p>\n

Controversy over cost and look<\/p>\n

Cast in Blue represents a mythical version of megafauna once found in the state’s South East<\/a>, and its colour was chosen to reflect Mt Gambier’s iconic Blue Lake.<\/p>\n

About two weeks after its installation in July last year, chunks of paint were chipped off it in an incident unrelated to today’s court proceedings.<\/p>\n

No-one was charged, despite the council passing CCTV on to SA Police.<\/p>\n

Following the vandalism by Vanderhorst in September, the council said stickers had been placed on the sculpture and the adhesive could not be removed without damaging its surface.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/p>\n

The eyes stuck to Cast in Blue damaged the layers of paint used to give it its shiny colour. (ABC South East SA: Eugene Boisvert)<\/p>\n

At the time, Mayor Lynette Martin said the council would be pursuing costs from the person responsible.<\/p>\n

“People don’t have to like it, but they don’t have to be creating wilful damage in this way,” Ms Martin said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s inappropriate and disrespectful and there’s many members of our community who’ve embraced Cast in Blue.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 20-year-old woman who stuck googly eyes on a sculpture in the middle of Mount Gambier has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,467,469,460,134,187529,19601,142052,468,100428],"class_list":["post-565040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blue-blob","tag-cast-in-blue","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-googly-eyes","tag-graffiti","tag-magistrates-court","tag-mount-gambier","tag-vandalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}