Cardwell is a coastal town and rural locality in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, the locality of Cardwell had a population of 1,309 people.

The Cassowary Coast Region is a local government area in the Far North Queensland region of Queensland, Australia, south of Cairns and centred on the towns of Innisfail, Cardwell and Tully. It was created in 2008 from a merger of the Shire of Cardwell and the Shire of Johnstone.