"The obvious thing when you look at any country town in NSW is that there is almost always a Chinese restaurant," Christine Yeats, an archivist at the Royal Australian Historical Society (RAHS), said.

"So, really, the Chinese were incredibly successful."

It's one of the many people stories of Australian history being examined by the RAHS at its seminars on Saturday.

On the back of Friday's lectures, Ms Yeats said the forum has taken on a multicultural theme.

But instead of sharing the more "traditional" aspects of Australia's multicultural history - the Anglo-centric stories - Ms Yeats said the untold stories are about the Italian, German, Chinese and Lebanese migrants and their value towards the progression of Australian society.

"It gets people thinking that history is not just convicts," Ms Yeats said.

"There are people from a whole lot of different groups who make up our society today."

The reasons migrants settled in the Riverina are many and varied.

But, speaking generally, Ms Yeats said the motivation for migration was usually economic.

For example, huge numbers of Chinese came to the region to pan for gold in the 19th century.

Vice-president of the Wagga and District Historical Society Geoff Burch said the seminar has opened minds.

"It makes you think of all the influences on Wagga," he said.

"These are the pockets of people that have made up the city."

Ms Yeats said the regional seminar fits in to a growing trend of people inspired to learn about the past.

"People are getting a bit of a wanderlust," she said.

"A lot of people are doing their own thing with history, but then they ask 'what made them do that?'"

The regional seminar continues on Saturday at the Blakemore Building at Charles Sturt University South Campus.