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Updated July 13, 2026 \u2014 6:10pm,first published 4:37pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A Sydney day care worker facing more than 320 charges over his alleged abuse of 150 children can now be identified after this masthead and police fought to lift a year-long gag order over his name.<\/p>\n Detectives hope heart-wrenching photographs, including a dinosaur puffer vest and a pink and gold backpack, will help parents identify 22 more children allegedly preyed on by the man trusted with their care.<\/p>\n Hamish Alexander Edward Tait, 35, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in July 2025 and charged with using children to make abuse material, but his name has never been made public.<\/p>\n His identity was suppressed to \u201cHT\u201d at his first appearance in court at the request of the AFP to protect the investigation. That order has now lifted after a hearing at Parramatta Local Court on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are chances now for other potential victims to come forward,\u201d one mother told reporters outside court, requesting her name not be published.<\/p>\n \u201cIf people are watching the news and hear the name Hamish Tait, and (their children) had contact with this man, contact the AFP.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman had multiple children in Tait\u2019s care. She sent their photographs to the AFP and waited a \u201cdaunting\u201d week until investigators cleared them as suspected victims.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s horrifying. And that\u2019s why the suppression order needed to be lifted. It had to be lifted so that potentially those victims can be identified and their parents can be notified,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tait had come onto the radar of authorities after allegedly uploading one of his recordings to a cloud server.<\/p>\n Investigators ultimately seized approximately 2.5 million files from his electronic devices. Operation Moonbi has since discovered 158 alleged child victims in the files.<\/p>\n Of that number, 136 children have been identified and 22 are unidentified, despite the tireless work by victim identification teams.<\/p>\n The AFP on Friday laid an additional 137 charges against Tait. They include producing child abuse material, filming a person in a private act and sexual touching \u2013 which relates to allegedly posing the children to photograph them.<\/p>\n Tait is now facing 329 charges in total, making him Australia\u2019s most prolific alleged abuser in a day care setting. The scale of the alleged offending means that if found guilty, he will have abused more children than any other childcare worker in the country\u2019s history.<\/p>\n The AFP has information suggesting Tait worked at 62 centres through his career, but the alleged abuse has only been identified at 10. Tait\u2019s alleged victims, spoken to by investigators, are located across Australia and the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n Related Article Tait, this masthead can now reveal, had worked in the industry for years at a large franchise called Fit Kidz, which has branches across Sydney\u2019s north-west.<\/p>\n Fit Kidz Box Hill posted photographs of Tait with children dressed in colourful costumes and wigs for his 15th anniversary with the group.<\/p>\n He described himself as a \u201cfounder\/facilitator and educator\u201d of Fit Kidz at the service in one online profile.<\/p>\n Tait\u2019s online resume said that from 2019 he went on to become the \u201cowner-operator\u201d of Wild Earthlings, a business which took children on bushwalks around Sydney.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s horrifying. And that\u2019s why the suppression order needed to be lifted. It had to be lifted so that potentially those victims can be identified and their parents can be notified.\u2019<\/p>\n Mother, who asked not to be named, outside court<\/p>\n Wild Earthlings was promoted by a Fit Kidz centre at Dural South as an interactive stall and \u201cbush kindy service aimed at reconnecting children to the natural world\u201d in October 2024.<\/p>\n It claimed to have four locations around Sydney \u2013 Glenorie, West Pennant Hills, Alexandria and Wolli Creek.<\/p>\n Photographs from Wild Earthlings shows Tait playing the didgeridoo to children and speaking with them in bushland settings.<\/p>\n \u201cI am an early childhood educator by profession which means I love seeing children explore and learn about their world,\u201d Tait wrote online.<\/p>\n \u201cCapturing the beautiful world of children in a candid, innocent and natural way is something I take so much joy in.<\/p>\n \u201cHere are some samples of the wonderful children I have had the pleasure of photographing. I would love to see you and your little ones for a session very soon!\u201d<\/p>\n Soon after Tait\u2019s arrest, almost all signs of him were scrubbed from the social pages of Fit Kidz and other learning centres, while his Wild Earthlings site was deactivated, along with all private social pages.<\/p>\n Tait has made no application for bail since his arrest last year.<\/p>\n The AFP\u2019s non-publication order covering Tait\u2019s identity allowed them to identify and reach out to impacted families without a media frenzy.<\/p>\n The Herald and The Age last year agreed not to challenge the AFP\u2019s non-publication order to allow the investigation to be properly handled \u2013 with July 1 becoming the deadline to name Tait.<\/p>\n In a court document, the AFP said they wanted to name Tait to help parents identify the last 22 children in the files, using swatches of clothing patterns and distinctive items.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst it is likely that some victims may never be positively identified due to the nature of the images \u2026 there are some images where I consider that a level of public outreach could assist in positively identifying additional victims,\u201d AFP Commander Brett James wrote in the document.<\/p>\n James said the AFP wanted to release \u201csanitised images\u201d on a website along with a list of the centres where he worked, to identify the children.<\/p>\n \u201c(Two images) depict a puffer vest with a distinctive dinosaur pattern and a pink and gold backpack,\u201d James wrote.<\/p>\n The unique items could be recognised by parents, who could come forward to police, detectives hope.<\/p>\n Police want to establish a local contact point which would allow parents to easily get information about the case and contact detectives with information.<\/p>\n Related Article Tait launched an eleventh-hour bid to keep his name secret<\/a> one day before the order expired. The case returned to Parramatta Local Court on Monday for a hearing into whether the order concealing his identity should be made permanent.<\/p>\n Tait argued his right to a fair trial would be put at risk if his name was released in connection with the allegations.<\/p>\n But this masthead\u2019s executive counsel, Larina Alick, told the court that the sheer numbers of alleged victims and centres in Operation Moonbi has made it impossible to keep the man\u2019s identity secret.<\/p>\n \u201cThe accused\u2019s name and workplaces are already not a secret, there has been disclosure by the AFP to 121 families in the local community,\u201d Alick said on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea this is somehow a secret to be protected is not true. The social media posts indicate this is the worst-kept secret in that community.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course people will talk.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I do not accept publication of the accused[\u2018s] name and workplaces will cause incurable prejudice \u2026 to the contrary I find a NPO would frustrate attempts of the Australian Federal Police.\u2019<\/p>\n Judge Stuart Devine<\/p>\n Alick said identifying the workplaces, but not the man himself, would cast aspersions on all male staff in the centres.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will all be accused of these very serious offences, including the other men who work there \u2026 all of those men become \u2018the accused\u2019 if we can\u2019t name this man,\u201d Alick said.<\/p>\n Judge Stuart Devine was \u201cnot convinced\u201d that media publication of the allegations against Tait would prejudice a jury when it comes to trial.<\/p>\n Further, Devine said, it was significant that the AFP needed to identify Tait\u2019s workplaces publicly to carry on their investigations.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this case the applicant\u2019s evidence has not persuaded me,\u201d Devine said.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not accept publication of the accused[\u2019s] name and workplaces will cause incurable prejudice \u2026 to the contrary I find a NPO would frustrate attempts of the Australian Federal Police.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor’s pick Furious parents over the last fortnight have fired off emails, DMs and formed social media groups urging for the man to be publicly identified.<\/p>\n Some parents were at the hearing on Monday, eager for the name to be released.<\/p>\n One former employer also released a statement saying they wished Tait would be named, so they can properly address the fury from parents.<\/p>\n The AFP\u2019s lawyers warned the court the investigation would be \u201cprejudiced\u201d if the names are kept secret any longer, because they will prevent the public from helping.<\/p>\n \u201cThe AFP should have the opportunity to identify the remaining potential victims,\u201d the AFP\u2019s lawyer said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe AFP\u2019s approach is not to name the target of the investigation. The difficulty is identifying the places at which he worked will essentially identify him \u2026 It\u2019s an all or nothing situation.\u201d<\/p>\n AFP Acting Commissioner Luke Needham alleged that Tait shared abuse material overseas on three occasions during the \u201chorrific\u201d offending.<\/p>\n \u201cThe abuse of trust we allege has occurred is devastating and will have lifelong ramifications for victims and their families,\u201d Needham told reporters after the court hearing.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a parent myself, I\u2019m acutely aware of how distressing this news is.\u201d<\/p>\n The AFP set up a similar contact point after asking a court to lift a suppression order over confessed childcare paedophile David James<\/a>, to identify the centres in which he had worked.<\/p>\n This masthead was in that case also aware of James\u2019 identity and fought to have the order lifted only once investigators had reached out to directly impacted parents.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Hamish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7517916cefff94b069067e41fe1c0533c82d95f3.jpeg\")
Hamish Alexander Edward Tait is facing more than 320 charges over his alleged abuse of 150 children.<\/p>\n![\"Hamish](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7bc2a8ed9a68d4d823a39a8f87c836e24ea6b0950f01af13810c06fc2330c98a.jpeg\")
Hamish Tait being arrested in July 2025. He has remained in custody since.AFP<\/p>\n![\"Tait](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ad631329727fd3e688f27f6058686254ec05e0ea.jpeg\")
Tait worked at 62 centres through his career, but the alleged abuse has only been identified at 10.<\/p>\n![\"Australia\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ca410b1c235e2a3cec2853c896b6a692866fcb8ed0ddc6b4b5d8c879438b9985.jpeg\")
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Photographs posted online show Tait speaking with children in bushland settings.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/055d0c1485980f8542c6e1a5eb5b46395abaf070.jpeg\")
The Herald and police fought to lift a year-long gag order over Tait\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/76a416abc347038405d7443f3db7619e7a3336e01a2b641f11ed257e5abfe7a5.jpeg\")
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Acting](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/45db65dbd18f1b93853f28a203af69d44d5eea24.jpeg\")
Acting AFP Commander Luke NeedhamWolter Peeters<\/p>\n