I don't know enough about it to really give an infomed opinion. I do know that tribal groups were run by a collective of elders and not a single leader. No taxes or other charges because the idea of individual property wasn't known. What was traded was what was offered by the tribe and what was accepted was what was needed by the tribe. In traditional aboriginal society even the tools for survival (spears, digging tools, woomeras, boomerangs etc) were collectively owned and not owned by an individual.
I think the idea of the "free market" is a myth anyway. I think it can be ascribed to Adam Smith, who would be appalled if he saw what was happening in the name of "free trade" today. My meagre understanding tells me that Smith was arguing against mercantilism and looking to the idea of "individual enlightened self-interest", the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, to trade freely. I think now there is no free trade, no free market, everything is controlled by corporations and cartels.
Sorry, I was getting rant-worthy.
As I was saying, I would think that in aboriginal society back then that the bartering process would have been controlled by the elder group. Traditional aboriginal society doesn't have a history of single authority figures in a tribe, even today in traditional communities, it's usually a collective of elders (all men) who sit down and sort things out. In my work some years ago I had to travel to an isolated traditional community and speak with an elders council. I was told by a European (ie white) advisor that everything was done on a communal basis. There are no single, heroic figures in aboriginal society such as there were in First Nations/Native American societies in North America. There is one legendary aboriginal figure, Bennelong, who is still known and acknowledged, but that's primarily because of his assitance to the colonists in 1788.
