Claudelands is a suburb directly to the east of central Hamilton, New Zealand, across the Waikato River.

Following the 1864 invasion of the Waikato they moved to Gordonton[4] and the land was confiscated and sold by the government.

[5] Alfred William East, a captain with the 4th Waikato Regiment, was one of the original owners of Claudelands.

[6][7] Francis Richard Claude was an early wealthy settler from South America who bought 400 ha (990 acres)[8] of parcels of mainly swampy land from the original soldier-settlers who were disgruntled with their land allocation.

It was sold to the South Auckland Racing Club and then the Waikato A&P Association, who had their first show on 27 October 1892.

Originally the ground in this area was swampy but artificial drainage has dried the soil.

[9] Claudelands is one of Hamilton's oldest suburbs, with a large number of bay villas and bungalows dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Although later development led to the construction of a large number of two-storey blocks of flats, the unique character of the area was deemed worthy of preservation by the Hamilton City Council.

[15] The scheme was proposed as part of efforts to help the area recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.