The launch of Queany the monotreme on Tuesday has been marred by vandals attacking Morty the mollusc.
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Queany is the riverbank's most recent addition, located out the front of the Queanbeyan Arts Society building near Trinculo Place.
The sculpture, which depicts the fascinating platypus often seen in the Queanbeyan River, is surrounded by a bright blue mosaic created last year by Queanbeyan volunteers working with Sydney sculptor and mosaic artist Freya Jobbins​.
Both pieces of public art are works by Neil Dickinson.
They are made from a steel frame with ferro cement on the top.
However, just recently it was discovered Morty the Snail had sustained damage to the tentacle that leads to one of his eyes.
This is about the fourth time in the last two years the artwork has been targeted by vandals, and Mr Dickinson is fed up.
He said he had mixed feelings about the launch of Queany the Platypus after he discovered the snail had been damaged.
"It is a bit heartbreaking," he said.
"It is lovely to have [Queany] out there. I suppose I have slight mixed feelings because of what's happened to Morty, I'm a little bit nervous about it now."
"It is very, very annoying. I just want it to be left alone."
After all the vandalism Morty endured, Mr Dickinson said he used extra reinforcement for the new addition to Queanbeyan's riverbank.
However, Morty was on his last chance. Mr Dickinson said this would be the last time he was prepared to fix the artwork.
"I'll either cut off [the antenna] completely and have little stubs there, or move the sculpture to somewhere else," he said.
His final try to make Morty more hardy would be to weld a "huge bit of steel" on to the snail.
As for Queany, Mr Dickinson said if he had the budget he would have made her in bronze.
"You're a bit limited by your budget with the sort of things you can do," Mr Dickinson said.
"I have designed the platypus to be super-strong. We had the fence around it for nearly three months to let the plants grow, and a sign saying 'please do not climb the sculpture' will also be added."
Mr Dickinson said he's got more than 20 pieces of public art across New South Wales and Morty is the only one who has been constantly targeted by vandals.
