A former childcare worker in Sydney charged with more than 320 offences over alleged abuse of 136 children has now been identified as Hamish Tait.
The 35-year-old was identified after a court order protecting the identity of the accused was lifted on Monday in a case involving alleged child abuse crimes committed over the period of 16 years at dozens of centres.
The man had been at the centre of a major police operation dubbed Operation Moonbi, which began in June last year in what has been described as possibly one of Australia’s worst alleged childcare abuse cases in terms of scale and number of victims.
Mr Tait, who is from Glossodia in the rural Hawkesbury region of Sydney’s north-west, worked across 62 childcare centres and early education centres between 2009 and 2025.
He is facing 329 charges, including 162 counts of producing child exploitation material and 81 counts of filming a person engaged in a private act without consent.
He is also charged with 24 counts of aggravated use of a child under 14 years for the production of child abuse material, as well as 18 counts of intentionally sexually touching a child under 10 years old.
The investigation by the Australian Federal Police began in June 2025 following a report about an online user uploading a file depicting child abuse. The accused triggered automatic security alerts by syncing child abuse files to a cloud server.
Forensic analysis of his devices uncovered 2–2.5 million files, leading to the identification of 158 alleged victims, including 136 identified children and 22 unidentified people.
Police linked the man to the alleged activity and arrested him in July that year after executing a search warrant.
Police said Mr Tait worked at or attended 62 such centres in Sydney’s northwest and also had his own business.
The alleged offences happened between 2009 and 2025 at five facilities.
The AFP acting commander Luke Needham said the police have contacted 121 families, both in Australia and internationally.
These were the families “who we have positively identified their child as being depicted in child abuse material”, he said.
Mr Needham said “all [alleged] offending occurred here in New South Wales” with “limited [alleged] offending that occurred in South Australia”.
“Any allegation involving the abuse of children is confronting and horrific, especially when it involves someone trusted to care for them,” he added
“The abuse of trust we allege has occurred is devastating and will have lifelong ramifications for victims and their families.”
The acting commander said Mr Tait shared the alleged abused material overseas on three occasions during the offending.
There are at least 22 alleged victims who “are yet to be positively identified” he said.
