Cadell is a town situated near the north western edge of South Australia's Riverland on the inside of the large southward bend in the Murray River. The town is named after Captain Francis Cadell, a pioneer of steam-powered navigation on the Murray River. The town of Cadell was surveyed in 1919 and named in 1920. It is slightly upstream of the earlier failed village settlement of New Era, however what is now the Cadell Irrigation Area is the same as was previously the New Era irrigation area.