The gouge was a bit of a nuisance, but I have decided to try to re-fill it and disguise it so I can re-finish to look like the wood again. The paint stripper softens it up, so it had to be removed anyway.
After a bit of sanding, re-filling, re-sanding and re-fillilling, it looked like this
I found the best way to sand was to wrap wet and dry around a rectangular pencil rubber so it could bend around the contours of the carved body.