Siege of Mafeking Siege of Mafeking The Siege of Mafeking was a 217-day siege battle for the town of Mafeking (now called Mahikeng) in South Africa during the Second Boer War from October 1899 to May 1900. The siege received considerable attention as Lord Edward Cecil, the son of the British prime minister, was in the besieged town. The siege turned the British commander, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, into a national hero. The Relief of Mafeking (the lifting of the siege), while of little military significance, was a morale boost for the struggling British. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second Boer War in
Mafeking, Victoria Mafeking, Victoria Mafeking is a locality in Victoria south east of Grampians National Park and near the town of Willaura. "In 1900 there was a large rush to the Grampians area south of Mt William, to what became known as the Mafeking rush. In 1897 two splitters named Arthur and David Schache found gold in a gully in the granite area, and told the brothers Philip and Frank Emmett, who were on a shooting trip. The Emmetts returned from the Rocky Point Diggings at Ararat, and stayed with their friends, the Masons. They prospected the area and got the first