Siege site gives Mother iron ruler (8)

I believe the answer is:

mafeking

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'siege' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'mother iron ruler' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'iron' becomes 'fe' (Fe is the chemical symbol for iron).
'ruler' becomes 'king' (king is a kind of ruler).
'ma'+'fe'+'king'='MAFEKING'

'site gives' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for mafeking that I've seen is " Boer siege town".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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