PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG - Restoration of the historic whaling station on Kekerten Island Territorial Park is now complete.

"The site does look pretty great. We are very happy with the project," said Richard Wyma, manager of parks program development with Nunavut Parks.

This scene likely would have been common in the 1800s, when the whaling station on Kekerten Island was frequented by nearby residents and Scottish and American whalers. - photo courtesy of NWT Archives

Local outfitters like Joavee Alivaktuk, who worked on the restoration this summer, and Charlie Komoartok already bring dozens of visitors to the island each year.

Cluttered with artifacts abandoned by whalers over the past century, the historic site now features a graceful, weathered steel structure where the main station used to be.

"The weathered steel was chosen to look weathered and rusted, like the old barrel hoops and trypots already onsite. The skeletal structure, too, will not overpower the historic Inuit presence at the park, but rather complement the artifacts located on the site," Wyma said.

The restoration project was initially led by a steering committee which included Alivaktuk, elder Rosie Veevee, council member Adamie Veevee, youth representative Jonathan Qaqqasiq and Lazarusie Ishulutak and Limee Nakashuk of the Pangnirtung Hunters and Trappers Organization.

Construction was completed by Iqaluit-based NuNorth Construction and Alivaktuk, who said last week there were only a few finishing touches left to put on the site.

Nunavut Parks will now develop new interpretive signage and materials for the station, and replace existing signage on the site, according to Wyma.

A new guidebook is also in production.

The Kekerten whaling station was used most heavily during the 1850s and 1860s.

Three storehouses were built on the island in 1857 by Scottish whalers, and traces of their work can still be seen.

After Kekerten Island was abandoned by foreign whalers in the 1920s, local hunters continued to use it and in 1998 it was used it as a base camp for the community's last bowhead whale hunt.