Otago and Southland Ngai Tahu normally hold the commemorations in Bluff or Dunedin, but hosted them in Queenstown for the first time in the resort's history.
The day began with a procession of dignitaries from Earnslaw Park to the Queenstown Recreation Ground.
It included Labour, NZ First and National MPs, as well as most of the region's mayors and council chief executives.
Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene, who accepted the challenge during a powhiri under a symbolic marae entrance, said it was a day for remembering the nation had been founded on the Treaty.
"The roots of our country are binary, and we are very privileged to be resting on that foundation."
New Zealand First MP and Lawrence farmer Mark Patterson said his Scottish-Irish ancestry meant he was raised in a family "quite ambivalent" about the Treaty.
"There was a wilful blindness to the events of the past."
He was now proud to be part of a tradition of parliamentarians who had worked on addressing Maori grievances over the past three decades.
Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker said the Treaty "affects everything I do as an MP", and it continued to be relevant because of the continuing disparities between Maori and Pakeha.
After the formal proceedings, the crowd was treated to a series of cultural performances by the Arrowtown School kapa haka group and representatives of the resort's Chinese, African and Brazilian communities.
