>because some of the tribes didn't understand trade and negotiation that the British are used to.

I'm 90% sure they all did trade.

When I heard the story I remember it being English, but I'm not sure now.

I feel like people always have this stereotype of native Australians as being some long lost forgotten people who had less contact with the outside world than the Americas. In reality they were well connected with other continents. When the first European "discovered" Australia, there was already a native man there who spoke English because he had worked as a ship hand in Indonesia.