Hamish Alexander Edward Tait identified as Sydney’s worst alleged daycare paedophile
Updated ,first published
A Sydney nursery worker facing more than 320 charges for allegedly abusing 150 children can now be identified following this byline and as police fight to lift a year-long speaking ban on his behalf.
Detectives hope the harrowing photos, which include a dinosaur puffer vest and a pink and gold backpack, will help identify 22 more children allegedly preyed on by the man parents entrusted with their care.
Hamish Alexander Edward Tait, 35, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police in July 2025 and charged with using children as abuse material, but his name was never publicly released.
His identity was disguised as “HT” at his first court appearance, at the request of AFP to protect the investigation. The order was lifted following a hearing in Parramatta Local Court on Monday.
Speaking to reporters outside the court, one mother, who asked that her name not be published, said: “Other potential victims now have a chance to come forward.”
“If people are watching the news and hear the name Hamish Tait and (their children) have come into contact with this man, contact the AFP.”
The woman had more than one child in Tait’s care. She sent her photos to AFP and waited a “scary” week until investigators cleared them as suspected victims.
“It’s appalling. That’s why the suppression order had to be lifted. It had to be lifted so that potential victims could be identified and their parents notified,” he said.
Tait was on the authorities’ radar for allegedly uploading one of his recordings to a cloud server.
Investigators ultimately seized approximately 2.5 million files from his electronic devices. Operation Moonbi has since uncovered 158 alleged child victims in the files.
Despite the tireless work of the victim identification teams, 136 children out of this number were identified, and 22 of them could not be identified.
The AFP filed 137 additional charges against Tait on Friday. These include producing child abuse material, filming a person in a private act, and sexual touching, which is allegedly linked to children posing for photographs.
Tait now faces 329 charges in total, making him Australia’s top alleged abuser in the nursery setting. The scale of the alleged crime means that, if convicted, she would have abused more children than any other childcare worker in the country’s history.
The AFP has information suggesting Tait worked at 62 centers during his career, but the alleged abuse was detected in only 10 centres. Tait’s alleged victims whom investigators spoke to were located in Australia and the United Kingdom.
The byline reveals that Tait has been working in the industry for years at a major franchise called Fit Kidz, which has branches in Sydney’s north-west.
Fit Kidz Box Hill posted photos of Tait with children dressed in colorful costumes and wigs for the band’s 15th anniversary.
In an online profile, he described himself as the “founder/facilitator and educator” of Fit Kidz.
Tait’s online CV states that from 2019 he remains the “owner-operator” of Wild Earthlings, a business that takes children on forest walks around Sydney.
‘This is terrible. That’s why the restraining order had to be lifted. This ban had to be lifted so that these potential victims could be identified and their parents informed.’
The mother, who did not want her name to be disclosed, is outside the court
Wild Earthlings was unveiled by a Fit Kidz center in Dural South in October 2024 as an interactive bench and “forest childcare service aimed at reconnecting children with the natural world.”
It claimed to have four locations around Sydney: Glenorie, West Pennant Hills, Alexandria and Wolli Creek.
Photos of Wild Earthlings show Tait playing the didgeridoo with children and talking to them in woodland settings.
“I am an early childhood educator by profession, which means I love seeing children learn and explore their world,” Tait wrote online.
“Capturing the beautiful world of children in a sincere, innocent and natural way is something I enjoy very much.
“Here are some examples 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!”
Shortly after Tait’s arrest, almost all marks on the social pages of Fit Kidz and other learning centers were deleted, while the Wild Earthlings site was also deactivated along with all private social pages.
Tait has not applied for bail since his arrest last year.
AFP’s decision not to publish Tait’s identity allowed them to identify and reach affected families without a media frenzy.
reporter And Age Last year, he agreed not to challenge the AFP’s decision to ban publication to ensure the proper conduct of the investigation; The deadline for submitting Tait’s name was July 1.
In a court document, AFP said they wanted to name Tait using clothing patterns and distinguishing items to help parents identify the last 22 children in the files.
AFP Commander Brett James wrote in the document: “While some victims may never be positively identified due to the nature of the images… there are some images that I feel support at a public level may assist in positively identifying other victims.”
James said the AFP wanted to publish “sanitized images” on a website along with a list of centers it was working with to identify the children.
“(The two images) depict a puffer vest with a distinctive dinosaur pattern and a pink and gold backpack,” James wrote.
Detectives hope the unique items may be recognized by parents and they can contact police.
Police want to establish a local point of contact that will allow parents to easily obtain information about the case and communicate with detectives.
Tait launched an eleventh-hour bid to remain anonymous the day before the order was due to expire. The case returned to Parramatta Local Court on Monday for a hearing on whether the anonymity order should be made permanent.
Tait argued that his right to a fair trial would be at risk if his name was disclosed in connection with the allegations.
However, Larina Alick, administrative counsel for this imprint, told the court that the large number of alleged victims and centers in Operation Moonbi made it impossible to keep the man’s identity secret.
“The defendant’s name and businesses were not already a secret but were disclosed by the AFP to 121 families in the local community,” Alick said in a statement on Monday.
“The idea that this is somehow a secret that needs to be protected is not true. Social media posts show that this is the worst kept secret in that community.”
“Of course people will talk.”
‘I do not accept the publication of the defendants'[‘s] names and workplaces would cause incurable prejudice… on the contrary, I think an NPO would frustrate the initiatives of the Australian Federal Police.’
Judge Stuart Devine
Alick said identifying the workplaces, rather than the man himself, would slander all male staff at the centres.
“They will all be charged with these very serious crimes, including the other men who worked there… If we can’t name this man, these men will all be ‘defendants,'” Alick said.
Judge Stuart Devine was “not convinced” that media coverage of the allegations against Tait would prejudice the jury when it came to the trial.
Additionally, Devine said it was important for the AFP to publicly identify Tait’s workplaces to continue their investigation.
“I am not convinced by the applicant’s testimony in this case,” Devine said.
“I do not accept the publication of the defendants”[’s] names and workplaces would cause incurable prejudice… on the contrary, I think an NPO would frustrate the initiatives of the Australian Federal Police.”
Furious parents have sent emails, sent DMs and formed social media groups over the past two weeks, calling for the man’s identity to be made public.
Some parents were at the hearing Monday and were impatiently waiting for the name to be announced.
A former employer also issued a statement saying they wanted Tait’s name to be released so they could properly address the parents’ anger.
AFP’s lawyers warned the court that the investigation would be “biased” if names were kept secret any further, as this would prevent the public from helping.
“The AFP needs to have the opportunity to identify the remaining potential victims,” the AFP’s lawyer said.
“The AFP’s approach is not to name the target of the investigation. The difficulty is that identifying the places where he works will essentially identify him… It’s an all or nothing situation.”
AFP set up a similar point of contact after asking a court to lift a restraining order against self-confessed childcare pedophile David James to identify the centers where he worked.
This imprint was also aware of James’ identity in this case and only fought to have the order lifted when investigators reached out directly to the affected parents.
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